Highly stereoselective synthesis of substituted prolyl peptides using a combination of biocatalytic desymmetrization and multicomponent reactions

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201001592

Time and pep-tide wait for no man: Optically pure 3,4disubstituted 1-pyrrolines, generated from the corresponding meso-pyrrolidines by biocatalytic desymmetrization (MAO-N=monoamine oxidase N), react with carboxylic acids and isocyanides in a highly diastereoselective Ugi-type multicomponent reaction to give substituted prolyl peptides of high pharmaceutical relevance. (Figure Presented)

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201001592

Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201001592
Multicomponent Reactions
Highly Stereoselective Synthesis of Substituted Prolyl Peptides Using a
Combination of Biocatalytic Desymmetrization and Multicomponent
Reactions**
Anass Znabet, Eelco Ruijter, Frans J. J. de Kanter, Valentin Kꢀhler, Madeleine Helliwell,
Nicholas J. Turner, and Romano V. A. Orru*
Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) offer the ability to rapidly
and efficiently generate collections of structurally and func-
tionally diverse organic compounds.[1] MCRs are important
tools for both combinatorial chemistry and diversity-oriented
synthesis, and thus play a significant role in the development
of methodology for drug discovery.[2] Although MCRs are
very efficient by their nature, the stereocontrol in these
reactions is mostly not trivial.[3] For most MCRs, catalytic
asymmetric methods to control the stereochemical outcome
of the reaction are so far not available.
tivity that can be achieved from the addition of nucleophiles
to the imine, owing to its steric bulk.
Herein, we report the development of a new MAO-N
oxidation/MCR (MAO-MCR) sequence for the stereoselec-
tive synthesis of highly functionalized, optically pure 3,4-
substituted prolyl peptides starting from simple cyclic meso-
amines (Scheme 1). These peptides, with generic structure 3,
are of considerable interest in organocatalysis[9] and medicinal
chemistry. Specifically, such substructures are key structural
elements of the hepatitis C virus NS3 protease inhibitors
telaprevir[10] and boceprevir[11] (Scheme 2).
The Ugi reaction is undoubtedly one of the most widely
applied MCRs.[4] It is of considerable interest owing to its
exceptional synthetic efficiency and is widely used in the
fields of modern combinatorial and medical chemistry.[1,2] The
Ugi reaction involves a one-pot condensation of an aldehyde,
an amine, a carboxylic acid, and an isocyanide to produce
chiral a-acylaminoamides. However, as in most MCRs,
controlling the newly formed stereocenter is highly complex.
In 1982, Nutt and Joulliꢀ reported the use of an Ugi-type
three-component reaction (3CR) that employed substituted
1-pyrrolines instead of the amine and aldehyde components
to produce substituted prolyl peptides.[5] In that case and in
later applications,[6] the (dia)stereoselectivities were poor or
unpredictable at best, and the routes to the required
substituted 1-pyrrolines were tedious and/or low-yielding.
Recently, Turner and co-workers reported the biocatalytic
desymmetrization of 3,4-substituted meso-pyrrolidines with
monoamine oxidase N (MAO-N) from Aspergillus niger[7] to
yield optically active
Scheme 1. General MAO-MCR sequence.
1-pyrrolines in excellent yields and ee values.[8] As imines are
intermediates for many common multicomponent reactions,
the use of these optically active 1-pyrrolines in the Ugi MCR
would be highly attractive given the excellent diastereoselec-
[*] A. Znabet, Dr. E. Ruijter, Dr. F. J. J. de Kanter, Prof. Dr. R. V. A. Orru
Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1083
1081 HV Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Fax: (+31)20-598-7488
Scheme 2. HCV NS3 protease inhibitors.
E-mail: rva.orru@few.vu.nl
Dr. V. Kꢀhler, Dr. M. Helliwell, Prof. Dr. N. J. Turner
School of Chemistry, Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre
University of Manchester, Manchester (UK)
First, we turned our attention to finding the most suitable
conditions for the Ugi-type MCR. As methanol is usually the
solvent of choice in the Ugi reaction, we decided to do a
solvent screen to determine if there would be any solvent
effect on the diastereomeric ratio (d.r.). The reaction of
racemic 3-azabicyclo[3.3.0]oct-2-ene (rac-4, synthesized
according to a literature procedure[8]), benzoic acid, and
[**] We thank Dr. M. T. Smoluch for HRMS measurements. A.Z. thanks
the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research for a Mosaic
Fellowship.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201001592.
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Table 2: Scope of Ugi-type 3CR using optically enriched 4.
tert-butyl isocyanide was selected as the model reaction.
Various solvents were screened at room temperature
(Table 1), and dichloromethane and toluene gave the best
Table 1: Solvent and temperature dependence of the d.r. of the Ugi-type
3CR of rac-4, benzoic acid, and tert-butyl isocyanide.[a]
Entry
Product
R1
R2
t [h] Yield [%]
d.r.[a]
ee [%][b]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
5a
5b
5c
5d
5e
5 f
Me
Ph
furyl
Ph
Me
Ph
iPr
tBu
tBu
iPr
iPr
Bn
48
24
48
24
48
24
48
73
80
75
78
71
81
83
93:7
93:7
92:8
92:8
92:8
92:8
93:7
95[c]
94
94
94
94
Bn
tBu
97[c]
97[c]
5g
Entry
Solvent
d.r.[b] (RT)
d.r. (48C)
d.r. (À408C)
[a] d.r. determined by GC analysis. [b] ee determined by HPLC and GC
analysis. [c] Partial crystallization of imine.
[c]
[c]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
H2O
buffer[d]
MeOH
CH2Cl2
DMSO
DMF
87:13
87:13
90:10
92:8
87:13
89:11
92:8
–
–
–
[c]
[c]
–
92:8
93:7
91:9
90:10
[c]
[c]
–
–
–
–
–
[c]
[c]
–
[e]
toluene
TFE
93:7
[c]
[c]
90:10
–
[a] All reactions were performed with 0.073 mmol of imine rac-4 and
0.1 mmol of benzoic acid and tert-butyl isocyanide and run until
conversion of the imine was complete. Reaction mixtures were stirred for
24 h at the appropriate temperature. [b] Based on GC analysis. [c] Not
tested. [d] 100 mm KPO4 buffer, pH 8.0. [e] Reaction too slow for
accurate determination. DMF=N,N-dimethylformamide, TFE=2,2,2-
trifluoroethanol.
diastereomeric ratios. These solvents were also subjected to
screening at lower temperatures. Table 1 shows that dichloro-
methane at 48C gave the best diastereomeric ratio. The yields
were comparable for dichloromethane and methanol in
contrast to toluene where the yields were lower (data not
presented). Because of the only marginal improvement in
diastereomeric ratio at 48C we decided to perform our MAO-
MCR sequence in CH2Cl2 at room temperature.
Enantiomerically enriched cyclic imine (3S,7R)-4 was
prepared by MAO-N-catalyzed desymmetrization of the
corresponding pyrrolidine derivative[8] in very good yield
and ee (85%, 94% ee). The ee could be improved to 97% by
recrystallization during workup.
Figure 1. Single-crystal structure of 5 f. Displacement ellipsoids are
drawn at the 50% probability level.[14]
in sharp contrast with other reports, where stereoinduction is
poor[6a–e] or the 2,3-cis isomer is preferentially formed.[6f,g]
All other pyrrolidines 5 were assigned the same absolute
stereochemistry as 5 f, based on analogy of the 1H NMR
spectroscopic data.
Subsequently, the sterically demanding imine 6 was
prepared by MAO-N-catalyzed desymmetrization in 84%
yield and > 99% ee, and was used in a series of Ugi-type
3CRs. To our delight, substituted prolyl peptides 7 were
obtained as single diastereomers in > 99% ee (Table 3,
entries 1–8).
To confirm that the stereochemical outcome of the
reaction was solely determined by the starting chiral imine,
we reacted 6 with tBuNC and either Fmoc-Pro-OH or Fmoc-
d-Pro-OH to give 8 and 9, respectively (Scheme 3a). In both
cases, only one diastereomer was formed.[12] Likewise, we
reacted 6 with benzoic acid and either (S)- or (R)-a-
methylbenzylamine to give 10 and 11, respectively, as single
diastereomers. 1H NMR analysis indicated that the shown 2,3-
trans isomers were selectively formed in all cases.
We then reacted imine 6 with Fmoc-d-Pro-OH and methyl
3-isocyanopropionate, which, after treatment with NaOH in
methanol/dichloromethane,[13] afforded 12 as a single stereo-
isomer (Scheme 3b). Compound 12 strongly resembles H-d-
With the chiral imine 4 in hand, we turned our attention to
the Ugi-type 3CR. Different carboxylic acids and isocyanides
were used to generate substituted prolyl peptides 5a–g in
good yield and d.r. with very good ee (Table 2).
Excellent diastereoselectivity was observed for all reac-
tions (Table 2). Crystallographic analysis of 5 f (Figure 1)
determined the absolute configuration (as the stereochemis-
try at the C3 and C4 positions, resulting from the biotrans-
formation, has been reported previously[8]), and showed that
attack by the isocyanide occured from the sterically less-
hindered face. The 2,3-trans relationship is in agreement with
the generally accepted mechanism of the Ugi reaction, in
which the stereodetermining step is the direct nucleophilic
attack of the isocyanide on the imine (or iminium) carbon.
The extraordinarily high selectivity for the 2,3-trans isomer is
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Table 3: Scope of Ugi-type 3CR using optically pure 6.
Entry Product
R1
R2
t [h] Yield [%]
d.r.[a]
ee [%][b]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
7a
7b
7c
7d
7e
7 f
Me
Ph
furyl
Ph
Me
Ph
iPr
tBu
tBu
iPr
iPr
Bn
48
24
48
24
48
24
48
83
82
75
78
78
80
81
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99
>99
>99
>99
>99
>99
>99
Scheme 4. Organocatalytic asymmetric conjugate addition using 12.
expect this methodology is applicable to a wide variety of 3,4-
cis-substituted 1-pyrrolines and therefore of considerable
synthetic value in the construction of arrays of otherwise
hard-to-access 3,4-substituted prolyl peptides, for example, as
Wennemers-type organocatalysts. Moreover, our methodol-
ogy holds great promise for applications in medicinal
chemistry, especially in the synthesis of novel hepatitis C
drugs.
Bn
tBu
7g
[a] d.r. determined by GC analysis. [b] ee determined by HPLC and GC
analysis.
Experimental Section
Representative procedure: Acetic acid (55 mg, 52 mL, 0.91 mmol) and
tert-butyl isocyanide (76 mg, 103 mL, 0.91 mmol) were added to a
solution of imine 6 (93 mg, 0.70 mmol) in CH2Cl2. The reaction
mixture was stirred for 24 h at RT. CH2Cl2 (8 mL) was added and the
resulting mixture was washed with Na2CO3 (2 ꢁ 10 mL) and then
dried (MgSO4), filtered, and concentrated to give 7a as a white solid,
yield 83%, > 99:1 d.r. (tmajor = 18.179 min, GC for determination of
d.r.); > 99% ee [Daicel Chiralpak AD-H, hexane/2-propanol = 92:8,
eluction rate 1.0 mLminÀ1
, l = 220 nm, tmajor = 5.319 min (chiral
HPLC), tminor = 6.587 min].
Received: March 17, 2010
Revised: April 28, 2010
Published online: June 23, 2010
Keywords: biocatalysis · multicomponent reactions ·
.
organocatalysis · peptides · stereoselective reactions
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