LETTER
Amphiphilic Dendrons
205
methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMO) in aqueous acetone to and convergent strategies to enable their efficient synthe-
give the G[1+2]-(OH)16(OBn) 24 as a mixture of diaste- sis and good structural homogeneity. The divergent
reoisomers in 64% yield. The allylation–dihydroxylation growth strategy, in principle, can also be applied to the
sequence was once again employed on 24 to give the cor- G[0+1]- and G[0+3]-dendrons to furnish amphiphilic
responding G[2+2]-(OH)32(OBn) 1,18 after purification by dendrimers with a broader range of HLB values for future
dialysis in MeOH, in overall 87% yield. Compound 1 has self-assembly and controlled release property studies.
24 chiral centers and is a mixture of more than 106 stereo-
isomers. The peripheral 1,2-diols in compounds 24 and 1
could be protected as the dioxalanes using 2,2-dimethoxy-
Acknowledgment
This work was substantially supported by a grant from the UGC of
the HKSAR, P. R. of China (Project No. AoE/P-03/08).
propane and the focal point benzyl ether functionality
could be removed by hydrogenolysis to produce com-
pounds 25 (64%) and 26 (70%), respectively. The focal
point alcohol functionality can serve as a handle for its
attachment to other molecular entities.
Supporting Information for this article is available online at
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The conversion efficiency of the divergent allylation–
dihydroxylation reaction was assessed by mass spectros-
copy using either electrospray or MALDI-TOF ionization
techniques.16 For example, the MALDI-TOF mass spec-
trum of G[2+2]-(OH)32(OBn) 1 showed a major peak at
m/z 2569 [M + Na]+, and several structurally defective
peaks of less than 10% relative intensity corresponding to
peaks with one or two non-allylated, or one non-dihydrox-
ylated species (Figure 2). Based on the relative intensities
of these defective peaks, one could estimate that 80% of
the sample was the defect-free dendron after two iterative
growth cycles, highlighting the good efficiency of Haag’s
divergent synthetic protocol.
References and Notes
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(15) The structural properties of all compounds were
characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, mass
spectrometry, and/or elemental analysis. Their good purities
were also confirmed by a polydispersity index of <1.02 by
size-exclusion chromatographic analysis.
(16) See the Supporting Information for details.
(17) Synthesis of 19: A solution of DIAD (0.53 mL, 2.67 mmol)
in toluene (6 mL) was added dropwise to a stirred solution of
allylic alcohol 18 (1.78 g, 2.06 mmol), Ph3P (0.70 g, 2.67
mmol), and Meldrum’s acid (0.15 g, 1.03 mmol) in toluene
(6 mL) at –10 °C. The progress of the reaction was
monitored by TLC. When the reaction was complete
Figure 2 MALDI-TOF spectrum of G[2+2]-(OH)32(OBn) 1
The aqueous solubility of G[0+2]-(OH)8(OBn) 22,
G[1+2]-(OH)16(OBn) 24 and G[2+2]-(OH)32(OBn) 1
were found be to <10–3, 2.9 and >7.5 M, respectively, re-
flecting the gradual increase of HLB value [22 (3.5), 24
(10.7) and 1 (15.0)].16 Apparently, the highly polar nature
of the larger-sized oligo(glycerol) sector overwhelmed
the non-polar nature of the aliphatic core and enabled
compounds 24 and 1 to become miscible with water
through unimolecular micelle and aggregate formation.
In summary, we have reported the versatile synthesis of a
series of new amphiphilic layer-block dendrons. The syn-
thesis made use of favorable attributes of both divergent
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York
Synlett 2013, 24, 201–206