10.1016/j.tet.2005.05.021
The research focuses on the efficient synthesis of (S)-homolysine and (S)-bishomoarginine, which are analogues of the cationic amino acids lysine and arginine, respectively. These homologues are valuable in drug discovery, particularly in the development of peptidic enzyme inhibitors and for probing enzyme active sites. The synthesis strategy avoids the use of chiral templates by incorporating commercially available (S)-allylglycine and utilizes olefin cross-metathesis for chain elongation. The synthesis of (S)-homolysine involves five steps with an overall yield of 55%, which is an improvement over previous methods. (S)-Bishomoarginine is prepared in six steps with a 57% overall yield. Key reactants include bromobutene, di-tert-butyliminodicarboxylate, cesium carbonate, and Grubbs’ ruthenium catalyst, among others. The synthesis involves protection and deprotection steps, cross-metathesis reactions, and hydrogenation. Analyses used to confirm the structure and purity of the compounds include NMR spectroscopy, specific rotation measurements, and chiral GC analysis.