Therapeutic options for brain infections caused by pathogens with a reduced sensitivity to drugs are limited. Recent reports on the potential use of linezolid in treating brain infections prompted us to design novel compounds around this scaffold. Herein, we describe the design and synthesis of various oxazolidinone antibiotics with the incorporation of silicon. Our findings in preclinical species suggest that silicon incorporation is highly useful in improving brain exposures. Interestingly, three compounds from this series demonstrated up to a 30-fold higher brain/plasma ratio when compared to linezolid thereby indicating their therapeutic potential in brain associated disorders.

α-Halohydrazones/ketoximes are transformed into trisubstituted pyrazoles/disubstituted isoxazoles by treatment with phosphine, acyl chloride, and a base. Mechanistic investigations revealed the in situ formation of azo/nitroso olefin intermediates which underwent a tandem phospha-Michael/N-or O-acylation/intramolecular Wittig reaction to afford the heteroarenes in moderate to good yields. Further, proper functionalization of α-haloketoximes and a change of conditions allowed the chemoselective synthesis of chromenone-oximes as well as rearranged isoxazoles, thereby realizing a diversity-oriented synthesis.

Syntheses of two 14-membered macrolides Sch-725674 and Gliomasolide C are described here. The first total synthesis of Gliomasolide C, the short synthesis of Sch-725674, and regioselective Wacker oxidation of internal olefin are the highlights of this disclosure. In addition, a key macrocycle with orthogonal functionalities was designed and synthesized on a gram scale for the generation of analogues.

The marine metabolite mycalol (1) has a specific inhibitory activity on cells of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), a very aggressive and rare cancer that does not have effective conventional therapy. In this study, we describe six new related analogues (2-7) that differ in the length of the terminal alkyl residue and the presence of acetate or 3S-hydroxybutyrate (3S)-3HB as a substituent at C-19. Despite the structural analogies, some of the new members were significantly more cytotoxic than 1 on cell lines derived from human ATC. Structures inclusive of the 2'R,3R,4S,7R,8S,19R absolute configuration were assigned to 2-7 on the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis, synthesis of different isomers, and application of ECD and Mosher's methods. This work led to the identification of mycalol-578 (3) as the most potent analogue, with an IC of 2.3 μM on FRO cells.

An enantioselective synthesis of spiropyrazolone-fused cyclopenta[c]chromen-4-ones is demonstrated via a (3+2) cycloaddition reaction. The reactions of 3-homoacylcoumarins and α,β-unsaturated pyrazolones in the presence of the cinchonaalkaloid derived hydrogen-bonding catalyst provide aforementioned spiropyrazolone-chromenone adducts bearing five contiguous stereocenters, of which one is the spiro all-carbon quaternary stereocenter in high yields (up to 98%) with good to excellent stereoselectivities (>25:1 dr and up to 99% ee). This one-pot methodology could also be practically demonstrated on a gram-scale with similar efficacy.