No abstract

In the past decade, the asymmetric synthesis of chiral nonracemic isoquinoline alkaloids, a family of natural products showing a wide range of structural diversity and biological and pharmaceutical activity, has been based either on continuation or improvement of known traditional methods or on new, recently developed, strategies. Both diastereoselective and enantioselective catalytic methods have been applied. This review describes the stereochemically modified traditional syntheses (the Pictet-Spengler, the Bischler-Napieralski, and the Pomeranz-Fritsch-Bobbitt) along with strategies based on closing of the nitrogen-containing ring B of the isoquinoline core by the formation of bonds between C-N, N-C, C-N/N-C, and C-N/C-C atoms. Methods involving introduction of substituents at the C1 carbon of isoquinoline core along with syntheses applying various biocatalytic techniques have also been reviewed.

A series of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-, 3,4-dihydro-, and fully aromatic isoquinolines were tested as substrates and/or inactivators of highly purified human monoamine oxidase A and B (MAO A and B). None were found to be a substrate for either enzyme, but many of these isoquinolines could selectively inhibit either MAO A or B. Stereoselective competitive inhibition of MAO A was found with the R enantiomer of all the stereoisomers tested, including salsolinol (Ki = 31 microM), salsoline (Ki = 77 microM), salsolidine (Ki = 6 microM), and carnegine (Ki = 2 microM). As a class, the 3,4-dihydro-isoquinolines were the most potent inhibitors tested (Ki = 2-130 microM), and the fully aromatic isoquinolines had intermediate activity (Ki = 17-130 microM) against MAO A. In contrast, only a few of these compounds markedly inhibited MAO B. 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroisoquinoline, its 2-methyl derivative, and o-methylcorypalline gave apparent Ki values of 15, 1, and 29 microM, respectively, and two 3,4-dihydroisoquinolines (compounds 22 and 25) showed substantial inhibition of MAO B (Ki = 76 and 15 microM, respectively). These results support the concept that the topography of the inhibitor binding site differs in MAO A and B.

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Ab initio calculations of the optical rotation (OR) and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) for a series of trans-diastereomers of the natural cytokine modulator cytoxazone 1-4 have been performed by density functional theory (DFT). The calculation of OR and ECD curves provides, after critical assessment, a reliable method for the assignment of absolute configuration of these conformationally flexible molecules. The effects of the level of theory used for calculations, changes of conformer equilibrium, and the solvent influence on the geometry and values of calculated OR data are discussed, leading to the conclusion that the most frequently used B3LYP/6-31G(d) method is not adequate for prediction of the absolute configuration of this type of highly flexible molecules. The absolute configurations of levorotatory trans-isocytoxazone 2 and analogues 1, 3, and 4 have been established as (-)-(4S,5S)-trans-1-4; i.e., it is in opposition to the previously published configuration (-)-(4R,5R)-trans-2.