SummaryInitially, the Atherton–Todd (AT) reaction was applied for the synthesis of phosphoramidates by reacting dialkyl phosphite with a primary amine in the presence of carbon tetrachloride. These reaction conditions were subsequently modified with the aim to optimize them and the reaction was extended to different nucleophiles. The mechanism of this reaction led to controversial reports over the past years and is adequately discussed. We also present the scope of the AT reaction. Finally, we investigate the AT reaction by means of exemplary applications, which mainly concern three topics. First, we discuss the activation of a phenol group as a phosphate which allows for subsequent transformations such as cross coupling and reduction. Next, we examine the AT reaction applied to produce fire retardant compounds. In the last section, we investigate the use of the AT reaction for the production of compounds employed for biological applications. The selected examples to illustrate the applications of the Atherton–Todd reaction mainly cover the past 15 years.

Cationic lipids constitute a family of synthetic vectors commonly used for nucleic acids delivery. We herein report the results of a systematic study that aimed to compare the transfection efficacies of cationic lipophosphoramidates possessing either two identical lipid chains (termed symmetric cationic lipids) or two different lipid chains (non-symmetric cationic lipids). In addition, we also compared the transfection results of such a 'molecular approach' (the two different lipid chains being included in the same molecule) with those of a 'supramolecular approach' in which two types of symmetrical cationic lipids were mixed in one liposomal formulation. Thus, the present work allowed us first to optimize the methods used to synthesize non-symmetric cationic lipophosphoramidates. In addition, we could also identify two non-symmetric cationic lipids exhibiting high transfection efficiencies with a series of mammalian cell lines, both vectors being characterized by a single phytanyl chain and either an oleyl or a lauryl lipid chain.

International audienceWe report herein the synthesis of a novel family of cationic lipids, characterized by a trimethylammonium headgroup linked through a phosphate function to either two identical or two different lipid chains. The novelty of this study arises from the use of a trialkyl phosphate group to associate the hydrophobic domain to the cationic polar head. The structure of these new cationic lipids, which differs from that of previously reported lipophosphoramidates, is closer to the phospholipids encountered in the plasma membrane, and possesses a phosphocholine polar head. Evaluation of the transfection activity allowed us to compare the efficacy of cationic lipophosphates with that of lipophosphoramidates. These results demonstrate that cationic lipophosphates and lipophosphoramidates having otherwise identical chemical structures exhibit similar transfection efficacies. The second conclusion is that the structure of the lipid domain is a much more important parameter in governing transfection efficacy than the composition of the linker moiety. The best results were obtained with cationic lipophosphates or lipophosphoramidates possessing two different lipid chains, for example one oleyl chain with one phytanyl chain. These nonsymmetric cationic lipids exhibited transfection efficacies that were 10- to 200-fold better than those obtained with Lipofectamine used as a commercial standard