Parallel and four-step synthesis of natural-product-inspired scaffolds through modular assembly and divergent cyclization

• Hiroki Oguri,
• Haruki Mizoguchi,
• Hideaki Oikawa,
• Aki Ishiyama,
• Masato Iwatsuki,
• Kazuhiko Otoguro and
• Satoshi Ōmura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 930–940, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.105

• followed by enolization and hydrolysis of the thioester yield orsellinic acid (path B). Inspired by this simple yet universal biosynthetic strategy, which generates structural variation among natural products, we envisioned the construction of chemical libraries featuring modular assembly for the rapid

Multistep organic synthesis of modular photosystems

• Naomi Sakai and
• Stefan Matile

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 897–904, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.102

• by following literature procedures [22][23][24][25]. In the first step from bis(hydroxymethyl)malonate 38, simple nucleophilic substitution is coupled with an ester hydrolysis and a debrominative decarboxylation. Another nucleophilic substitution with thioacetate converted bromide 39 into thioester

Building photoswitchable 3,4'-AMPB peptides: Probing chemical ligation methods with reducible azobenzene thioesters

• Gehad Zeyat and
• Karola Rück-Braun

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 890–896, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.101

• two regioisomeric azobenzene building blocks 3,4'-AMPB thioester 1b and 4,4'-AMPB thioester 2b were employed in the ligation reactions. While 4,4'-AMPB requires the 4,5,6-trimethoxy-2-mercaptobenzyl auxiliary to minimize reduction of the diazene unit, 3,4'-AMPB can be used in combination with the

• -terminal thioester peptide and either an N-terminal cysteine peptide or Nα-auxiliary-capped peptides. However, for elucidating the complex redox chemistry of the two azobenzene building blocks under the reducing conditions of ligation methods, we solely applied the Boc-protected azobenzene ω-amino acid

• thioesters 1b and 2b instead of a C-terminal thioester peptide. We explored the conventional cysteine-based NCL with Cys-peptide 3, and also screened the application of the TFA-cleavable 4,5,6-trimethoxy-2-mercaptobenzyl (Tmb) and 1-(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-mercaptoethyl auxiliaries by using peptides 4 and 5

Synthetic glycopeptides and glycoproteins with applications in biological research

• Ulrika Westerlind

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 804–818, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.90

• synthetic glycoproteins. Since the discovery of native chemical ligation (NCL) by Kent and co-workers, numerous efforts have been made to prepare challenging protein targets [39][40][41][42][43][44]. In the NCL method, a native amide bond is formed by coupling of a C-terminal thioester with the N-terminal

• Fmoc-SPPS followed by sequential NCL [51]. The N-glycopeptide fragment RNase 26–39 (17) was prepared with a thioester in the C-terminal and a thiazolidine protected cysteine at the N-terminus. The chemical ligation was performed by coupling of the N-glycopeptide thioester RNase 26–39 (17) and the

• RNase fragment 26–124 (20) to the thioester peptide fragment RNase 1-25 (21) was followed to give RNase fragment 1–124 (22). The formed RNase C protein was then folded by treatment with glutathione disulfide (GSSG) resulting in an active RNase C enzyme (23) (Scheme 3). Recently, the 111-amino-acid long

Natural product biosyntheses in cyanobacteria: A treasure trove of unique enzymes

• Jan-Christoph Kehr,
• Douglas Gatte Picchi and
• Elke Dittmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1622–1635, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.191

• Claisen-type cyclization step to form the characteristic bicyclic ring structure of anatoxin while the growing chain is tethered to the AnaF ACP domain. Experimental evidence for this suggestion is currently lacking. Finally, the bicyclic thioester is suggested to be transferred to the polyketide synthase

• biosynthesis include a six-carbon carboxylic acid unit as starter moiety. In vitro studies revealed the activation of either hexanoic, hexenoic or hexynoic acids at the JamA enzyme, whereas bromination clearly succeeded thioester formation [43]. Curacin A Curacin A (9) was originally isolated from a Lyngbya

• halogenation domain, although this could not be expected from the structure of curacin A. In vitro studies revealed that indeed cyclopropyl ring formation is preceded by a halogenation step (Figure 6B) [42]. The Cur ECH2 was found to catalyze the formation of a α,β-enoyl thioester, which is in contrast to the

Mitomycins syntheses: a recent update

• Jean-Christophe Andrez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2009, 5, No. 33, doi:10.3762/bjoc.5.33