Tubulexin chemical biology

Herbert Waldmann and co-workers at Max Planck have reported in ACIE on the chemical biology of tubulexins.

ACIE paper

Gambierol analogs

Luis Botana and co-workers from Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain have reported in JACS on the synthesis of gambierol analogs.

JACS paper

Vinblastine analogs

Dale Boger and colleagues have reported in Organic Letters on the functionalization of alkenes using iron. When I first saw vinblastine I thought of Dale Boger because he does so much work on this compound and it looks like I was thinking the right person.

OL paper

Vancomycin analogs

Whenever I see vancomycin’s structure I always think of Dale Boger. This time he and co-workers have published in JACS on the synthesis of some vancomycin analogs.

JACS paper

Fluorinated calystegnine B2

Jonathan Percy and co-workers at the University of Strathclyde in the UK have reported in JOC on the synthesis of a fluorinated calystegnine B2 analog.

JOC paper

Chemical synthesis with biosynthesis

Andreas Kirschning and co-workers at have reported in ACIEE on a combined biosynthesis/chemical synthesis approach to synthesize new ansamitocin analogs.

ACIEE paper

Cribrostatin analogs

Stephen Martin and colleague have reported in Tetrahedron on their cribrostatin analog synthesis via radical cyclization cascade to access the aromatic ring.  We’ve seen this chemistry before when they reported their synthesis in ACIEE.

Tetrahedron paper

Saxitoxin analogs and biological activities

Kazuo Nagasawa and co-workers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have reported in Chemistry a European Journal on the synthesis of saxitoxin analogs and their biological activities towards sodium ion channels.

Chemistry a European Journal paper

A drug for drugs

You may have seen this in C&E News but for those who missed it:  Danishefsky and co-workers have reported in PNAS on a ginseng analog (poly alkyne) that reduces the side effects of chemotherapy and X-ray treatments.  If you look at the data, then I wouldn’t conclude that the compound drastically improved the side effects of taxol, X-ray and other treatments (3-5% improvement in weight loss, etc), but the idea is interesting and it is a start.

 

PNAS paper

C-C bond forming process using an enzyme

Claudia Schmidt-Dannert and colleague at the University of Minnesota have reported in ACIEE on the use of BBE (berberine bridge enzyme) to selectively form a C-C bond.

ACIEE paper