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S. P. G. Costa et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 49 (2008) 5258–5261
on the fluorescence quantum yield was observed, when compared
to 2-thienylbenzoxazolyl-alanine which was reported to have a
fluorescence quantum yield of 0.80.2c A related alanine derivative
containing a benzoxazole bearing a methylthiophene was reported
by other authors,18 with the wavelength of maximum emission at
354 nm and a relative fluorescence quantum yield of 0.64.
References and notes
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The fluorescence quantum yield of nonsubstituted (oligo)thio-
phenes is expected to increase as the oligothiophene chain length
increases, due to a further extension of the conjugated
p-system.
On the other hand, the heavy atom induced spin–orbit coupling
by the sulfur atoms can give rise to a very efficient intersystem
crossing mechanism, thus lowering the emission.19 Moreover, azo-
methine nitrogens contribute to the heavy atom effect concomi-
tant with the increased degree of conjugation.19c Also, the
different chains (thiophene, bithiophene and terthiophene) should
exhibit different degrees of torsion between the thiophene units,
which leads to variations in the effectivity conjugation length,
affecting the planarity of the whole heteroaromatic system.19d In
our case, we believe that a combination of the abovementioned
effects could be responsible for the trend observed in our results.
Keeping in mind further applications of these amino acids as
emissive probes for energy transfer or FRET (Fluorescence Reso-
nance Energy Transfer) studies in more complex structures as pep-
tides chains, in Figure 1 can also be seen the good superposition of
some absorption and emission spectra (e.g., compounds 6a and
4a), which opens up a very wide range of potential interesting
applications to be explored.
As can be seen by the results, the presence of C- and N-terminal
protecting groups does not affect the position of the absorption
and emission bands, nor the fluorescence quantum yield, which
does not vary significantly, within the same series of compounds
(e.g., compare entries 1–3 in Table 1). In order to assess the influ-
ence of the solvent polarity in the photophysical properties of ala-
nines 4–6, spectra were run in cyclohexane, dioxane, acetonitrile
and ethanol/water (1:1) and the obtained results showed that no
solvatochromic effect was observed, suggesting that these com-
pounds are solvent polarity independent.
In summary, we have achieved the synthesis of new fluorescent
heteroaromatic amino acid derivatives 4–6 containing (oligo)thio-
phene and benzoxazole moieties combined with an alanine residue
by simple procedures in good yields and their photophysical prop-
erties were evaluated. Due to their interesting photophysical prop-
erties these heterocyclic alanine derivatives could find application
as useful building blocks for peptide-based fluorimetric chemosen-
sors, as fluorescent markers and probes for FRET studies in pep-
tides. Studies on the application of these new derivatives as
chemosensors are currently ongoing and it is expected that their
metal ion sensing ability can be comparable to that of 2-thienyl-
benzoxazolylalanine, which has been found to respond via a fluo-
rescence quenching effect to the presence of Cu(II), Ni(II) and
Hg(II) in a very efficient manner.2c
11. Batista, R. M. F.; Oliveira, E.; Costa, S. P. G.; Lodeiro, C.; Raposo, M. M. M. Org.
Lett. 2007, 9, 3201–3204.
12. Costa, F.; Silva, C. J. R.; Raposo, M. M. M.; Fonseca, A. M.; Neves, I. C.; Carvalho,
A. P.; Pires, J. Micropor. Mesopor. Mater. 2004, 72, 111–118.
13. Batista, R. M. F.; Costa, S. P. G.; Belsley, M.; Lodeiro, C.; Raposo, M. M. M.
Tetrahedron, in press.
14. General procedure for the synthesis of alanines 4a–6a: compound 1 (1 equiv)
was stirred with the corresponding 2-formyl (oligo)thiophene 2 (1 equiv) and
heated in ethanol at reflux (5 mL/equiv) for 3 h. The solvent was evaporated
and the crude imine 3 used in the next step without further purification.
N-tert-Butyloxycarbonyl 3-(bithien-20-yl)imino-
L
-tyrosine methyl ester 3b
(crude): yellow solid. Mp 162.5–163.6 °C. 1H NMR (CDCl3) d 1.43 (s, 9H,
C(CH3)3), 2.96–3.12 (m, 2H, b CH2), 3.73 (s, 3H, CH3), 4.52–4.60 (m, 1H, -H),
a
5.01 (d, J = 7.8 Hz, 1H, NH), 6.92–6.95 (m, 2H, H-2 + H-5), 7.06–7.10 (m, 2H, H-
6 + H-400), 7.22 (d, J = 4.2 Hz, 1H, H-30), 7.31–7.34 (m, 2H, H-300 + H-500), 7.41 (d,
J = 3.9 Hz, 1H, H-40), 8.70 (s, 1H, N@CH) ppm. 13C NMR (CDCl3)
d
28.31
(C(CH3)3), 37.90 (b CH2), 52.26 (CH3), 54.46 (
aC), 80.01 (C(CH3)3), 115.03 (C2),
116.45 (C6), 124.18 (C30), 125.18 (C300), 126.02 (C500), 127.61 (C1), 128.21 (C400),
129.49 (C5), 133.51 (C40), 134.95 (C3), 136.86 (C20 or C200), 141.09 (C50), 142.88
(C20 or C200), 149.37 (N@CH), 151.25 (C4), 155.12 (C@O Boc), 172.46 (C@O
ester) ppm. MS (FAB) m/z (%): 487 ([M+H]+, 63), 486 (28), 431 (26), 307 (38),
298 (36), 155 (30), 154 (100). HRMS: (FAB) m/z for C24H27N2O5S2; calcd
487.1361, found 487.1368. Calcd for C24H26N2O5S2: C, 59.24; H, 5.39; N, 5.76; S,
13.18. Found: C, 59.41; H, 5.48; N, 5.76; S, 13.23.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portu-
gal) for financial support through project PTDC/QUI/66250/2006
and a Ph.D. grant to E.O. (SFRH/BD/35905/2007).
The corresponding crude imine 3 (1 equiv) and lead tetraacetate (1.5 equiv)
were stirred at room temperature in DMSO (5 mL/equiv) for 3 days. The
mixture was poured over water and extracted with ethyl acetate (3 ꢀ 10 mL).
After drying with anhydrous magnesium sulfate and evaporation of the solvent
under reduced pressure, the crude compound was submitted to column
chromatography with silica gel by elution with dichloromethane.
Supplementary data
Characterization data (1H and 13C NMR, MS and HRMS and UV–
vis) for derivatives 4a–c and 6a–c are available. Supplementary
data associated with this article can be found, in the online version,
N-tert-Butyloxycarbonyl [2-(bithien-20-yl)benzoxazol-5-yl]-
ester 5a: yellow solid (0.198 g, 74%). Mp 107.0–108.7 °C. UV (ethanol): kmax
nm (log
) 365.0 (4.53). 1H NMR (CDCl3) d 1.43 (s, 9H, C(CH3)3), 3.16–3.29 (m,
2H, b CH2), 3.74 (s, 3H, CH3), 4.63–4.66 (m, 1H, -H), 5.03 (d, J = 8.1 Hz, 1H,
NH), 7.06–7.09 (m, 1H, H-400), 7.11 (dd, J = 1.2 and 8.4 Hz, 1H, H-6), 7.24 (d,
L-alanine methyl
e
a