Bielschowskysin core

Johann Mulzer and co-workers at the University of Vienna have reported in Organic Letters on the synthesis of the tricyclic core of bielschowskysin.  Surprisingly, that cyclobutane with the five membered ring is stable in many different conditions (ie:  LiOH).

OL paper

DFT with NMR

Alessandro Bagno and co-workers at Universitat Padova have reported in JACS on the use of density functional theory and NMR to assign the stereochemistry to vannusal B.

 

JACS paper

EBC-23 via Super Silyl Cascade Route

Hisashi Yamamoto and co-workers at Chicago have published in ACIEE on a total synthesis of EBC-23 via the super silyl cascade reaction.

 

ACIEE paper

Alchivemycin A

Yasuhiro Igarashi and co-workers from Toyama Prefectural University have published in Organic Letters on the isolation of alchivemycin A, a polycyclic polyketide that had MIC value of 50 nM against Micrococcus luteus.

OL paper

Bislongiquinolide and Dihydrotrichodimerol

Robert Kiss and co-workers from Universite Libre de Bruxelles have recently identified bislongiquinolide and dihydrotrichodimerol from terrestrial fungi.  Bislongiquinolide and dihydrotrichodimerol had IC50 values of 3 micromolar each against B16F10 cell lines.

JNP paper

SOMO Cascade

David Macmillan and co-worker at Princeton have recently published in JACS on a SOMO (singly occupied molecular orbital) catalysis approach for forming polycyclic frameworks.

JACS paper

Grecocycline B

Thomas Paululat and co-workers at the University of Siegen in Germany have recently reported on the isolation of grecocycline B from Streptomyces sp. Acta 1362.  The new polycyclic compound had an IC50 of 0.52 micromolar against tyrosine phosphatase B1.  Interestingly, protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP1B is a target for the treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

European JOC paper

Epoxide Opening Cascade

Timothy Jamison and co-workers have recently published in JOC on a CsF mediated epoxide opening cascade of a polyepoxy molecule that has TMS substituents.

JOC paper

Halichondrin

When an expert in total synthesis such as Kishi has a name on a journal article that is focused on synthesis of natural products, you know it has to be good.  The highlight of this synthesis is really the Ni/Cr catalyzed coupling using an aldehyde and a vinyl iodide.

JACS paper 1

JACS paper 2

Elisapterosin F

Elisapterosin F has recently been isolated by Abimael Rodriguez and co-worker at the University of Puerto Rico.   Its structure says it all.  They didn’t isolate enough to test any biological activities but from the previously isolated elisapterosins (D and E), these structures have anti-plasmodial activity (10 microgams/mL).

TL paper

TL paper 2003 (Elisapterosins D and E)