Tubulysin mimic

Ludger Wessjohan and co-workers have reported in JACS on bioactive tubulysin analogs.  One of them had an IC50 value of 0.14 nM against HT-29 cells.

JACS paper

Ynamide cyclization

Sebastien Balieu and co-workers at Université Paris Diderot have reported in Tetrahedron Letters on a cyclization using an ynamide substrate.

TL paper

Nucleophilic fluoride

Shuji Akai and co-workers at the University of Shizuoka have reported in Organic Letters on the conversion of a hydroxy group to a fluoro group in a catechol substrate using a nucleophilic fluoride source.

OL paper

Ni-cycloaddition

Janis Louie and co-workers have published in JACS on a nickel catalyzed cyclization of a ketene and a diyne.

JACS paper

Seven membered rings by opening cyclopropane

Hans-Gunther Schmalz and co-workers at the Universitat zu Koln have published in the European Journal of Organic Chemistry on the synthesis of some seven membered rings from a cyclopropyl ketone ring opening using a Lewis acid.

European JOC paper

Cycloclavine Synthesis

Peter Wipf and colleague at the University of Pittsburgh have reported on the synthesis of cycloclavine in JACS.

JACS paper

Dimerization

Ji-Kai Liu and co-workers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported in Tetrahedron Letters on a biomimetic synthesis of lindaspirone and bi-linderone.

TL paper

[2+2] via cinchona organocatalyst

Jieping Zhu and co-workers at CNRS have reported in ACIEE on a [2+2] reaction using a cinchona alkaloid catalyst.

ACIEE paper

Ruthenium Catalyzed [2+2]

Jose Mascarenas and co-workers at CSIC have reported in JACS on a ruthenium catalyzed [2+2] reaction.

JACS paper

Tetracycle from hemp

Orazio Taglialatela-Scafati and co-workers at Università di Napoli ‘Federico II’ in Italy have reported in Tetrahedron on the isolation of a tetracyclic compound from marijuana – but they called it hemp here.

Tetrahedron paper