Artemisinin, one of the topics of the Nobel Prizes in Medicine in 2015, and its derivatives have been used to treat malaria. A new study published in the Journal of Natural Products finds that the endoperoxide formation of artemisinin from dihydroartemisinic acid, its biosynthetic precursor, undergoes a mixed mechanism. The study, from the lab of Francis Yoshimoto at UTSA, used regioselectively deuterated dihydroartemisinic acid isotopologues to measure competitive intermolecular kinetic isotope effects in the formation of artemisinin. The supporting information file is over 500 pages!
Hirosato Takikawa and co-workers at Kobe University have reported in Tetrahedron on the synthesis of decaturin C, a compound with insecticidal properties. I was curious about the hemiketal formation – whether or not the hemiketal is formed completely or it is in equilibrium with the ketone.
Nobuyoshi Akimitsu and co-workers from the University of Tokyo have reported on the identification of manoalide A as an inhibitor for heptatitis C virus NS3 helicase.
Tsutomu Sato and co-workers from Niigata University have reported in JACS on the identification of a terpene cyclase enzyme that cyclized a C35 terpene (sesquarterpene).
Kuniaki Tatsuta and co-workers from Waseda University have published in Tetrahedron Letters on a total synthesis of epicochlioquinone A featuring a vinylogous Michael reaction and many more.
Karl Gademann and co-workers at the University of Basel in Switzerland have published in a ring contraction approach – an intramolecular benzilic acid rearrangement – to access the taiwaniaquinone carbon skeleton.
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