A non-infringing route for enantioselective synthesis of lacosamide has been developed. The synthesis started from commercially available acrylic acid and was completed in eight steps using Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation as a key step with an overall yield of 29%. All the reactions were very clean with good yields.

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A simple and straightforward stereoselective total synthesis of pectinolides A, C, and H is described. The synthesis has been started from commercially available (+)-diethyl L-tartrate and involves Ohira-Bestmann reaction, Corey-Bakshi-Shibata (CBS) reduction, and Still-Gennari olefination as key steps.

Nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domaincontaining protein 2 (NOD2) recognizes the muramyl dipeptide and activates the NF-κB signaling cascade following its interaction with receptor-interacting protein 2 (RIP2) via caspase recruitment domains (CARDs). The NOD2−RIP2 interaction is not understood well due to inadequate structural information. Using comparative modeling and multimicrosecond timescale molecular dynamics simulations, we have demonstrated the association of NOD2-CARDs (CARDa−CARDb) and their interaction with RIP2 CARD . Our results suggest that a negatively charged interface of NOD2 CARDa and positively charged type-Ia interface of NOD2 CARDb are crucial for CARDa−CARDb association and the type-Ia interface of NOD2 CARDa and type-Ib interface of RIP2 CARD predicted to be involved in 1:1 CARD−CARD interaction. Moreover, the direct interaction of NOD2 CARDb with RIP2 CARD signifies the importance of both CARDs of NOD2 in RIP2-mediated CARD−CARD interaction. Altogether, the structural results could help in understanding the underlying molecular details of the NOD2−RIP2 association in higher and lower eukaryotes.

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