Synthetic mRNA capping

• Fabian Muttach,
• Nils Muthmann and
• Andrea Rentmeister

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2819–2832, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.274

• triphosphorylated viral RNAs from cellular RNAs [12]. The antiviral response is among others mediated by the cytosolic receptor RIG-I which is activated by short single and double-stranded triphosphorylated RNAs and MDA-5. MDA-5 recognizes long triphosphorylated RNAs and RNAs lacking the 2′-OH methylation at the

• subsequent methylation of the 2′-hydroxy group of the adjacent second and third ribose, respectively [34]. These capping enzymes – e.g., from Vaccinia virus – can be harnessed for the production of capped RNA in vitro by adding them and their respective cosubstrates to the IVT reaction, as described by

• diphosphate (GDP, 15) and guanosine monophosphate (GMP, 16, Figure 4B), which are both accessible by phosphorylation of guanosine [54]. Methylation of GDP gives m7GDP (17) with high yield and regioselectivity [55]. The key step in cap analogue synthesis is the formation of the triphosphate linkage. Multiple

Vinylphosphonium and 2-aminovinylphosphonium salts – preparation and applications in organic synthesis

• Anna Kuźnik,
• Roman Mazurkiewicz and
• Beata Fryczkowska

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2710–2738, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.269

• phosphorus ylides from vinylphosphonium salts. Intramolecular Wittig reaction with the use of vinylphosphonium salts. Alkylation of diphenylvinylphosphine with methyl or benzyl iodide. Methylation of isopropenyldiphenylphosphine with methyl iodide. Alkylation of phosphines with allyl halide derivatives and

Hydrolysis, polarity, and conformational impact of C-terminal partially fluorinated ethyl esters in peptide models

• Vladimir Kubyshkin and
• Nediljko Budisa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2442–2457, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.241

• three hexaproline peptides 8a–c, while some increase of the negative band amplitude was only observed for the methanol samples. Overall, this model suggests a small conformational impact from the C-terminal 2,2-difluoroethylation or methylation as compared to the parent peptide 8a. These findings

Synthesis and photophysical properties of novel benzophospholo[3,2-b]indole derivatives

• Mio Matsumura,
• Mizuki Yamada,
• Atsuya Muranaka,
• Misae Kanai,
• Naoki Kakusawa,
• Daisuke Hashizume,
• Masanobu Uchiyama and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2304–2309, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.226

• electron-accepting properties. This red shift related to methylation of a phosphorus atom is in line with other earlier studies [10][18][33]. The fluorescence intensity of 7 (Ф = 67%) was as strong as that of phosphine oxide 4. The gold and boron complexes (8 and 9, respectively) showed contrasting

Synthesis of benzannelated sultams by intramolecular Pd-catalyzed arylation of tertiary sulfonamides

• Valentin A. Rassadin,
• Mirko Scholz,
• Anastasiia A. Klochkova,
• Armin de Meijere and
• Victor V. Sokolov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1932–1939, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.187

• methyl iodide (Scheme 2). Unfortunately, this apparently simple transformation yielded a mixture of C-, N- and C,N-methylation products due to similar reactivities of the C- and N-nucleophilic centers in 3a. At best, the tertiary sulfonamide 5 was isolated in 32% yield. In contrast to the behavior of 3a

Chiral phase-transfer catalysis in the asymmetric α-heterofunctionalization of prochiral nucleophiles

• Johannes Schörgenhumer,
• Maximilian Tiffner and
• Mario Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1753–1769, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.170

• ][16][17][18][19][20]. Following the pioneering reports of Wynberg et al. [25] and Merck scientists [26] who employed cinchona alkaloid-derived quaternary ammonium salts for asymmetric epoxidations [25] and the α-methylation of a phenylindanone derivative [26] in the late 1970s, early 1980s already

The chemistry and biology of mycolactones

• Matthias Gehringer and
• Karl-Heinz Altmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1596–1660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.159

A novel approach to oxoisoaporphine alkaloids via regioselective metalation of alkoxy isoquinolines

• Benedikt C. Melzer and
• Franz Bracher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1564–1571, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.156

• using polyphosphoric acid (Scheme 1). In the course of this cyclization, the methoxy group at C-6 is typically hydrolized to the phenol, subsequent O-methylation gives the 6-methoxy derivatives menisporphine (2) and dauriporphine (3). Recently, Zhang et al. [20] described an alternative approach

• methylation protocol, we explored diazomethane, but no conversion was observed at all. Finally, all of the synthesized alkaloids were tested for their cytotoxic potential in a MTT assay on the HL-60 cell line. Except for menisporphine (2) and bianfugecine (6, both IC50 values > 50 µM), all of the described

• metalation of amide 12. Synthesis of 1-arylnaphthalene analogues 15 and 16. Outcome of a D2O quenching experiment after metalation of amide 16 with LDA. Synthesis of the alkaloids menisporphine (2) and dauriporphine (3) by O-methylation of the alkaloids 6-O-demethylmenisporphine (4) and dauriporphinoline (5

Phenylsilane as an effective desulfinylation reagent

• Wanda H. Midura,
• Aneta Rzewnicka and
• Jerzy A. Krysiak

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1513–1517, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.150

• phenylsilane utilizing the procedure described above and afforded phenylacetate 8 as the only product. Methylation of 9 afforded product 10 with full stereoselectivity as the only diastereomer although the configuration of this center was not determined. Also in this case treatment with PhSiH3/KOH caused a

A speedy route to sterically encumbered, benzene-fused derivatives of privileged, naturally occurring hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-b]isoquinoline

• Olga Bakulina,
• Alexander Ivanov,
• Vitalii Suslonov,
• Dmitry Dar’in and
• Mikhail Krasavin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1413–1424, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.138

• product could be recovered from the filtrate in the form of respective methyl esters after O-methylation and chromatographic separation (see Experimental section): syn-10a' (7%), anti-10a' (12%), syn-10b' (13%). In those cases when the carboxylic acid precipitate contained a significant proportion of the

Total syntheses of the archazolids: an emerging class of novel anticancer drugs

• Stephan Scheeff and
• Dirk Menche

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1085–1098, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.108

• auxiliary proved demanding. The Menche group realized that a transformation to a Weinreb amide may be realized in an effective manner by an in situ activation of 24 with iPrMgCl [75], followed by a methylation of the free hydroxy group and introduction of the methyl ketone. This procedure proved superior to

• with sodium borohydride to generate all three required stereogenic centers for this fragment with excellent diasteroselectivity. Final methylation of the free alcohol was followed by conversion of the vinyl iodide into the desired stannane to get fragment 39 which was used directly for coupling

• . Notably, they had to switch the halide/organometallic functionality of each building block after an unsuccessful coupling between the stannane synthesized by reduction and methylation of ketone 67 and the iodine derived from fragment 62. They assume that the steric hindrance of the methyl group in C10

Transition-metal-free one-pot synthesis of alkynyl selenides from terminal alkynes under aerobic and sustainable conditions

• Adrián A. Heredia and
• Alicia B. Peñéñory

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 910–918, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.92

• inert gas atmosphere the phenyl selenide anion remains unoxidized and can be trapped by methylation. Furthermore, under the current reaction conditions no reduction of Se–Se bonds by the used base t-BuOK as proposed in the literature takes place (Scheme 5B) [44]. To account for the results obtained we

DMAP-assisted sulfonylation as an efficient step for the methylation of primary amine motifs on solid support

• Johnny N. Naoum,
• Koushik Chandra,
• Dorit Shemesh,
• R. Benny Gerber,
• Chaim Gilon and
• Mattan Hurevich

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 806–816, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.81

• 10.3762/bjoc.13.81 Abstract Several multistep strategies were developed to ensure single methylation of amines on solid support. These strategies rely on the introduction of the o-NBS protecting/activating group as a key step. We found that the state-of-the-art strategies fail for the methylation of

• an explanation by showing that the energy barrier of the DMAP intermediate is significantly lower than the one of the collidine. We demonstrate that using DMAP as a sole additive in the sulfonylation step results in an overall effective and regioselective N-methylation. The method presented herein

• proved highly efficient in solid-phase synthesis of a somatostatin analogue bearing three Nα-methylation sites that could not be synthesized using the previously described state-of-the-art methods. Keywords: N-methylation; nucleophilic addition; solid phase; somatostatin; sulfonylation; Introduction

Synthesis of ribavirin 2’-Me-C-nucleoside analogues

• Fanny Cosson,
• Aline Faroux,
• Jean-Pierre Baltaze,
• Jonathan Farjon,
• Régis Guillot,
• Jacques Uziel and
• Nadège Lubin-Germain

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 755–761, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.74

• . For the attempted methylation of the 2’-position different conditions were tested (Table 1). As described for other nucleosides [23], the use of MeLi led to compound 13b obtained by an attack from the α-face even if this proceeded with a very low yield (7%). The use of MeMgBr gave an almost 1:1

• mixture by α- and β-attack; this second one can be explained by a magnesium complexation with the base. More interestingly, the methylation proceeded stereoselectively leading to 13b in 87% yield when trimethylaluminium was used [24]. The stereochemical outcome of this reaction was determined by selective

• fluorinated analogue 3 required a more complicated pathway. This included the selective protection of the 3’,5’ positions, the stereoselective methylation and the fluorination of the 2’ position. The synthesized compounds are currently investigated for their antiviral activities. Experimental Experimental

Fluorinated cyclohexanes: Synthesis of amine building blocks of the all-cis 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorocyclohexylamine motif

• Tetiana Bykova,
• Nawaf Al-Maharik,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• David O'Hagan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 728–733, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.72

• elimination. Results and Discussion The Birch reduction of benzonitrile 6 followed by in situ methylation with iodomethane generated cyclohexadiene 7 as previously described [13][14]. Cyclohexadiene 7 was then subjected to a double epoxidation protocol using mCPBA [1][11][15][16]. This generated three

Substitution of fluorine in M[C₆F₅BF₃] with organolithium compounds: distinctions between O- and N-nucleophiles

• Anton Yu. Shabalin,
• Nicolay Yu. Adonin and
• Vadim V. Bardin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 703–713, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.69

• and 1:0.18, respectively. Nucleophilic methylation of 1-Li also results in a related value 1:(0.10–0.13) (Table 1, Table 2), i.e., the isomer ratio remains constant within the experimental error. Salt 1-N exists in DME as solvent-separated ion pair. Because of this the fluorine atom of BF3 is more

Derivatives of the triaminoguanidinium ion, 5. Acylation of triaminoguanidines leading to symmetrical tris(acylamino)guanidines and mesoionic 1,2,4-triazolium-3-aminides

• Jan Szabo,
• Julian Greiner and
• Gerhard Maas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 579–588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.57

• either symmetrical N,N’,N’’-tris(N-acyl-N-benzylamido)guanidines 6 or mesoionic 4-amino-1,2,4-triazolium-3-hydrazinides 7. The latter were converted into 1,2,4-triazolium salts by protonation or methylation at the hydrazinide nitrogen atom. Neutral 1,2,4-triazoles 10 were obtained by catalytic

• acid gave rise to the 3-hydrazinyl-1,2,4-triazolium chlorides 8b,c (Scheme 4) as well-crystallizing colorless or pale yellow solids. Analogously, the reaction of 7b with methyl triflate afforded the 3-(1-methylhydrazinyl)-1,2,4-triazolium triflate 9b by methylation of the exocyclic aminide nitrogen

• atom of the betaine; in contrast to other 1,2,4-triazolium-3-aminides [21][23], methylation with methyl iodide was not successful. Salt 9b forms colorless hygroscopic crystals which assume an orange surface color when exposed to air for some minutes. The structures of 1,2,4-triazolium salts 8b and 9b

Pd- and Cu-catalyzed approaches in the syntheses of new cholane aminoanthraquinone pincer-like ligands

• Nikolay V. Lukashev,
• Gennadii A. Grabovyi,
• Dmitry A. Erzunov,
• Alexey V. Kazantsev,
• Gennadij V. Latyshev,
• Alexei D. Averin and
• Irina P. Beletskaya.

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 564–570, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.55

• [8]. However, we did not observe complexation of pincer ligands 5c–e with inorganic or organic anions by NMR titration. The attempt to increase the anion affinity for the ligands by exhaustive alkylation of amino groups with trimethyloxonium tetrafluorborate led exclusively to methylation of hydroxy

Biosynthetic origin of butyrolactol A, an antifungal polyketide produced by a marine-derived Streptomyces

• Enjuro Harunari,
• Hisayuki Komaki and
• Yasuhiro Igarashi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 441–450, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.47

• valine and its C-methylation with methionine and the polyol carbons are derived from a glycolysis intermediate, possibly hydroxymalonyl-ACP. Keywords: biosynthesis; butyrolactol; contiguous polyol; hydroxymalonyl-ACP; polyketide; Streptomyces; tert-butyl; Introduction Actinomycetes produce structurally

• hydroxymalonyl-ACP formation in the zwittermicin biosynthesis (ZmaN, ZmaD, ZmaG, and ZmaE) (Figure 6) [24] are present in the downstream of the butyrolactol PKS cluster. Genes coding for O-methyltransferase homologues responsible for O-methylation of hydroxymalonyl-ACP were not found near the cluster

• -27). The origin of the tert-butyl group in polyketide biosynthesis is still unknown, however, the tert-butyl functionality of bottromycin and polytheonamide was shown to be produced by radical C-methylation of the isopropyl group of valine [31][32]. By analogy, the tert-butyl portion of 1 was most

Polyketide stereocontrol: a study in chemical biology

• Kira J. Weissman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 348–371, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.39

Continuous N-alkylation reactions of amino alcohols using γ-Al₂O₃ and supercritical CO₂: unexpected formation of cyclic ureas and urethanes by reaction with CO₂

• Emilia S. Streng,
• Darren S. Lee,
• Michael W. George and
• Martyn Poliakoff

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 329–337, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.36

• catalyst that is often overlooked and it is used merely as a support for other catalysts [39][40][41][42][43]. The use of γ-alumina for the methylation of aniline with dimethyl carbonate has been reported [44]. In this paper, we chose to study the intramolecular and intermolecular alkylation of amino

• led to an increase in the rate of cyclisation and methylation which then allowed for faster flow rates to be used under this operating temperature whilst still maintaining the same yield of 2b (Table 1, entry 1). Hence, three times the amount of material could be processed in the same time using this

• conditions afforded the desired N-methylpyrrolidine (4) in 95% yield. Extending the alkyl chain using 6-amino-1-hexanol (5), however, favoured methylation over intramolecular cyclisation as only 20% of the cyclised product 6 was observed. The major product was 6-(dimethylamino)-1-methoxyhexane (7, Scheme 2

O-Alkylated heavy atom carbohydrate probes for protein X-ray crystallography: Studies towards the synthesis of methyl 2-O-methyl-L-selenofucopyranoside

• Roman Sommer,
• Dirk Hauck,
• Annabelle Varrot,
• Anne Imberty,
• Markus Künzler and
• Alexander Titz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2828–2833, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.282

• -methylated carbohydrate ligands was demonstrated (e.g., 2, Figure 1). O-Methylation of carbohydrates is a rare modification, but widespread in nature as it has been observed in bacteria, protozoa, animals and plants but not in mammals [29][30]. Besides fungal and animal tectonins that recognize O-methylated

• glycans in pathogens or parasites, numerous other lectins recognize such O-alkylated ligands, e.g., the pilus adhesin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAK [31] or PapG from Escherichia coli [32]. In contrast, methylation of lectin ligands can also prevent binding, as observed with O-methylated fucose and

• mannose for P. aeruginosa LecB or B. cenocepacia BC2L-A [33]. Thus, O-methylation of glycans can tune biological recognition events. In contrast to the literature reports on the synthesis of unmodified seleno glycosides, the synthesis of selectively O-alkylated derivatives to study their interactions with

Organofluorine chemistry: Difluoromethylene motifs spaced 1,3 to each other imparts facial polarity to a cyclohexane ring

• Mathew J. Jones,
• Ricardo Callejo,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin,
• Michael Bühl and
• David O'Hagan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2823–2827, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.281

• relationship. Results and Discussion The preparation of diketones 5a–c and bis-dithianes 6a–c was carried out by previously described methods. The dimethyl-diketone 5c was prepared by double methylation of 5b [25] (Scheme 2). Two different O-alkylated products 7 and 8 were also obtained as significant

A versatile route to polythiophenes with functional pendant groups using alkyne chemistry

• Xiao Huang,
• Li Yang,
• Rikard Emanuelsson,
• Jonas Bergquist,
• Maria Strømme,
• Martin Sjödin and
• Adolf Gogoll

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2682–2688, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.265

• carbon of the pendant group precursors, with yields of 61% (9), 82% (10) and 65% (12), respectively. Methylation of bipyridyl intermediate 10 by methyl iodide produced viologen derivative 11 after exchanging the iodide for the PF6− anion. For the methylation step drying of both the reactants 10 and

Interactions between cyclodextrins and cellular components: Towards greener medical applications?

• Loïc Leclercq

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2644–2662, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.261

• correlation between the percentages of cholesterol extraction and the methylation degree of the CDs. This effect was clearly independent of the membrane composition. The expression levels of ABCA1 and ABCG1, as well as the cholesterol efflux to ApoA-I and HDL, were reduced due to cholesterol-methylated β-CD