ACS Combinatorial Science
Research Article
a
alcohol and thiol nucleophiles performed well to afford resultant
products 8 and 9 in good yields. The selectivity was also observed
with 2-amino thiophenol, in which the thiol is more nucleophilic
than the aniline group, furnishing the corresponding compound
9{1,1,1,2} in high yield (92%). But thiol nucleophiles 14{3} gave
only a 45% yield for the same condition, and all of the phenols
nucleophiles did not react at all. Amine nucleophile 11{5} did
not deliver 7{1,1,1,5} but gave 1-(1H-indol-3-yl)isoquinoline. It
is clear that 4-aminopyridine plays a base instead of a nucleophile
because of the electron-withdrawing nature of pyridine N.
As a further extension of this study, we found that the reac-
tion of N-sulfonylisoquinolinium 18 with indole 4 furnished the
corresponding 1-(1H-indol-3-yl)-2-(alkyl or aryl-sulfonyl)-1,2-
dihydroisoquinoline 19 in high yields (Scheme 3). We also
attempted to increase the diversity of compound 5 or 9 with
isothiocyanate 21 to 3-(2-butyryl-1,2-dihydroisoquinolin-1-yl)-
N-phenethyl-1H-indole-1-carbothioamide 22. Delighted with
this observation, we treated a number of 2-acyl-1-aryl-1,2-
dihydroisoquinolines 5{1,1,1} or 19{1,1,3}, 19{1,1,4} with
isothiocyanate 21{1−7} by this protocol. When the C-3 position
of the indole moiety is occupied by substituents other than
hydrogen, then the indole nitrogen is the most reactive toward
electrophiles.18 Thus, the nitrogen of indole was reacted with
isothiocyanate to afford the N-alkylated indole motif; for
example, substituted thioureas.
Table 1. Optimization of the Reaction Conditions
b
entry
base
solvent
yield (%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
K2CO3
Et3N
toluene
THF
15
18
N.R.
28
37
41
88
27
48
63
N.R.
60
38
10
86
43
94
MeOH
ether
dioxane
DMAC
DMF
EDC
c
9
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
d
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Cs2CO3
CsF
DBU
DMAP
tBuOK
NaH
Initially, the reactions of 5{1,1,1} with (2-isothiocyanatoethyl)-
benzene 21{1} were carried out with NaH in THF at room
temperature to deliver substituted thiourea 22{1,1} in 82% yield
(Table 4). N-Alkylation reaction of 2-acyl-1-indole-1,2-dihy-
droisoquinoline with isothiocyanate was first reported in the
presence of base under mild reaction conditions. We tested the
reactions on 2-acyl-1-indole-1,2-dihydroisoquinoline 5{1,1,1}
(Table 4, entries 1−2) and 2-sulfonyl-1-indole-1,2-dihydroiso-
quinolin 19{1,1,3}, 19{1,1,4} to provide N-alkylated product
22{2,1}−{3,7} in good to moderate yields (Table 4, entries 3−10).
Earlier studies have shown that various isoquinoline- and
indole-containing compounds are inhibitors of NF-κB.7−10
Because NF-κB is a transcription factor involved in the regulation
of numerous genes,19 we proceeded to determine whether
2-acyl-1-aryl-1,2-dihydroisoquinolines could inhibit NF-κB activ-
ity. NIH 3T3 cells were either untreated (Figure 4A, lanes 1 and 2)
or treated with 20 μM 19{1,1,1} (lanes 3−7) and then stimulated
with TNF-α an indicated number of times. The level of IκBα was
then analyzed by Western blotting using a polyclonal antibody
against the carboxyl terminus of IκBα. Treatment with 20 μM
19{1,1,1} effectively inhibited IκBα degradation at various times
(5, 10, 15, and 40 min) post-TNF-α induction (Figure 4A, lanes
3−7). In contrast, treatment with TNF-α for 20 min led to
apparent IκBα degradation in the control cells (Figure 4A, lane 2).
Because phosphorylation of IκBα at serine residues 32 (S32) and
36 (S36) is necessary for TNFα-induced IκBα degradation,20 we
next examined the effect of 19{1,1,1} in IκBα phosphorylation
by a Western blot using an antibody specific for detecting S32
phosphorylation in IκBα. As shown in Figure 4B, phosphor-
ylation of IκBα peaked at 5 min following TNF-α stimulation in
untreated cells (lanes 2−4). Treatment with 20 μM 19{1,1,1} led
to effective inhibition of IκBα phosphorylation at various time
periods after stimulation (lanes 6−8). These results indicate that
19{1,1,1} is a potent inhibitor of NF-κB activation by blocking
phosphorylation and degradation of IκBα.
e
17
a
Reactions were performed in the presence of base (1 equiv) at room
b
c
temp for 12 h. Isolated yield after column purification. Reaction tem-
perature 10 °C. Reaction temperature 40 °C. Reaction time 30 min;
N.R.- no reaction.
d
e
After reaction optimization, we examined synthesis of 1-(1H-
indol-3-yl)-N-phenylisoquinoline-2(1H)-carboxamide 7 by
using isocyanate 6, N,N′-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) 10, and
triphosgene, illustrated in Scheme 2. The first approach using
pathway A (Scheme 2) did not produce the expected compound
in either DMF or toluene after prolonged reaction time at higher
temperatures. In path B, the reaction of 1 with CDI 10 and indole
4 followed by addition of amine 11 in DMF did not afford the
desired product 7{1,1,1}. Because acid chloride and sulfonyl
chloride are more reactive than isocyanate and CDI, the synthesis
of a Reissert type adduct is more favorable with more activated
electrophiles,17 therefore, when isoquinoline 1 was reacted with
triphosgene and indole 4 (path C), followed by addition of
various nucleophiles, such as amines, alcohols, or thiols, to
deliver the corresponding 1,2-dihydroisoquinolines 7 derivatives
smoothly (Table 3).
Isoquinoline activation by triphosgene followed by nucleo-
philic attack of indole afforded the corresponding key inter-
mediate trichloromethyl-1-(1H-indol-3-yl)isoquinoline-2(1H)-
carboxylate 16. The carbon NMR spectrum clearly shows two
extra quaternary carbon peaks at ∼148 and ∼132 ppm. Sub-
sequently, compound 16 was employed to expand the library
diversity, with various heteroatom nucleophiles, such as amines,
alcohols, and thiols, at room temperature, as illustrated in path C
(Scheme 2).17b For the scope of the nucleophiles, we reacted two
amines 11{1−7}, an alcohol 13{1−4}, and two thiols 14{1−3}
(Figure 3).
The utility of this stepwise one-pot and multistep synthesis
was demonstrated in Table 3. Although more-reactive nucleo-
philes afforded the highest yields (9), poor nucleophiles gave
modest yields (7 and 8). Not only amine nucleophiles but also
After TNF-α-induced IκB degradation, the transcription factor
NF-κB undergoes nuclear translocation and binds to targeted
genes.19b To further investigate whether NF-κB nuclear
C
ACS Comb. Sci. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX