A procedure for the Cu-catalyzed hydrocyanation of alpha-aryl diazoesters has been developed using acetone cyanohydrin as a source of hydrogen cyanide (HCN). It was found that the addition of trimethylsilyl cyanide (TMSCN) significantly accelerates the conversion presumably by delivering free cyanide ion in situ, thus producing various types of alpha-aryl cyanoacetates in high yields under mild conditions.

New types of ruthenium catalysts were developed for the chelation-assisted intermolecular olefin hydroesterification that employs 2-pyridylmethyl formate as an ester source. Two classes of ligands, NHCs and phosphines, were found to facilitate the reaction delivering isomeric ester products (linear versus branched) with different ratios, thus allowing access to ligand-guided selective hydroesterification.

KRAS-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a major lung cancer subtype that leads to many cancer-related deaths worldwide. Although numerous studies on KRAS-mutant type NSCLC have been conducted, new oncogenic or tumor suppressive genes need to be detected because a large proportion of NSCLC patients does not respond to currently used therapeutics. Here, we show the tumor-promoting function of a cell cycle-related protein, PIERCE1, in KRAS-mutant NSCLC. Mechanistically, PIERCE1 depletion inhibits cell growth and AKT phosphorylation (pAKT) at S473, which is particularly observed in KRAS-mutant lung cancers. Analyses of AKT-related genes using microarray, immunoblotting, and real-time quantitative PCR indicated that PIERCE1 negatively regulates the gene expression of the AKT suppressor, TRIB3, through the CHOP pathway, which is a key regulatory pathway for TRIB3 expression. Similarly, in vivo analyses of PIERCE1 depletion in the KRAS mutation-related lung cancer mouse models revealed the suppressive effect of PIERCE1 knockout in urethane-and KRAS G12D-induced lung tumorigenesis with decreased pAKT levels observed in the tumors. Tissue microarrays of human lung cancers indicated the expression of PIERCE1 in 83% of lung cancers and its correlation with pAKT expression. Thus, we illustrate how PIERCE1 depletion may serve as a therapeutic strategy against KRASmutant NSCLC and propose the clinical benefit of PIERCE1.

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