Christopher D. Bray

ortho‐Quinone Methides in Natural Product Synthesis

ortho-Quinone methides (o-QMs) are emerging as highly useful intermediates, the inherent reactivity of which can be used in linchpin reactions for the construction of complex natural products. This review encompasses the major contributions in this field, exemplifying the major strategies and reactivity modes which can be applied.

Single-molecule in vivo imaging of bacterial respiratory complexes indicates delocalized oxidative phosphorylation.

Chemiosmotic energy coupling through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is crucial to life, requiring coordinated enzymes whose membrane organization and dynamics are poorly understood. We quantitatively explore localization, stoichiometry, and dynamics of key OXPHOS complexes, functionally fluorescent protein-tagged, in Escherichia coli using low-angle fluorescence and superresolution microscopy, applying single-molecule analysis and novel nanoscale co-localization measurements. Mobile 100-200nm membrane domains containing tens to hundreds of complexes are indicated. Central to our results is that domains of different functional OXPHOS complexes do not co-localize, but ubiquinone diffusion in the membrane is rapid and long-range, consistent with a mobile carrier shuttling electrons between islands of different complexes. Our results categorically demonstrate that electron transport and proton circuitry in this model bacterium are spatially delocalized over the cell membrane, in stark contrast to mitochondrial bioenergetic supercomplexes. Different organisms use radically different strategies for OXPHOS membrane organization, likely depending on the stability of their environment.

Total synthesis of (+)-intricarene using a biogenetically patterned pathway from (−)-bipinnatin J, involving a novel transannular [5+2] (1,3-dipolar) cycloaddition

An asymmetric synthesis of the furanobutenolide-based macrocyclic diterpene (-)-bipinnatin J (4a) isolated from the gorgonian octocoral Pseudopterogorgonia bipinnata is described. The synthesis is based on elaboration of the chiral lactone-substituted vinyl iodide 26b from (+)-glycidol, followed by an intermolecular Stille coupling reaction with the stannylfurfural 27, leading to 28a, and then an intramolecular Nozaki-Hiyama-Kishi allylation reaction, 28b --> 4a. Treatment of (-)-bipinnatin J (4a) with VO(acac)2-tBuO2H followed by acetylation of the tautomeric hydroxypyranone product 7/8, next gave the acetoxypyrone 30. When the acetoxypyranone 30 was heated in acetonitrile in the presence of DBU, it gave (+)-intricarene 1, which is found in P. kallos, via a novel transannular [5+2] (or 1,3-dipolar) cycloaddition involving the butenolide-oxidopyrylium ion intermediate 31. We believe that this total synthesis of (+)-intricarene 1 mimics its most likely origin in nature via oxidation of (-)-bipinnatin J (4a), presumably involving photochemically generated singlet oxygen or possibly a P450 monooxygenase enzyme system.

Generation and hetero-Diels-Alder reactions of an o-quinone methide under mild, anionic conditions: rapid synthesis of mono-benzannelated spiroketals.

Deprotonation of o-hydroxybenzyl acetate with (i)PrMgCl provides a method of generating an o-quinone methide under mild, anionic conditions, such that highly sensitive exo-enol ethers can be employed as 2pi partners in hetero-Diels-Alder reactions. This process results in mono-benzannelated spiroketals such as those found in the natural products berkelic acid, the chaetoquadrins or cephalostatin 6.

Synthesis and C-alkylation of hindered aldehyde enamines.

A new reactivity mode of hindered lithium amides with terminal epoxides is described whereby aldehyde enamines are produced via a previously unrecognized reaction pathway. Some of these aldehyde enamines display unprecedented C-alkylation reactivity toward unactivated primary and secondary alkyl halides. For comparison, the reactivity of aldehyde enamines synthesized via a traditional condensation method was examined. C- rather than N-alkylation was the dominant reaction pathway found with a range of electrophiles, making this route to alpha-alkylated aldehydes more synthetically useful than previously reported.

Stereocontrolled synthesis of quaternary cyclopropyl esters

Treatment of a variety of enantiopure terminal epoxides with the anion of a range of 2-substituted triethylphosphonoacetates leads to an array of quaternary cyclopropyl esters with high yield and diastereocontrol.

Stereocontrolled synthesis of trans-cyclopropyl sulfones from terminal epoxides.

Treatment of a range of (enantiopure) epoxides with the sodium salt of diethyl (phenylsulfonyl)methylphosphonate in DME at 140 degrees C for 4 h gives a variety of (enantiopure) trans-cyclopropyl sulfones with high diastereoselectivity.

Sultones and Sultines via a Julia–Kocienski Reaction of Epoxides

The development of the homologous Julia-Kocienski reaction has led to the discovery of two new reaction modes of epoxides with sulfones. These pathways allow rapid and direct access to a range of γ-sultones and γ-sultines.

An ortho -quinone methide based strategy towards the rubromycin spiroketal family

A method for the generation/in situ hetero-Diels–Alder cycloaddition of a trisubstituted ortho-quinone methide (o-QM) is described. Heating of ortho-hydroxybenzylamines was found to be a more effective strategy for the formation of o-QMs than use of the corresponding N-substituted quaternary salts hitherto employed. This method was used to synthesise the spiroketal core of the rubromycins.

A new family of sesterterpenoids isolated around the Pacific Rim

Covering: 2009 up to the end of 2017 There has been a recent eruption in the number of known marine sesterterpenoids which have been isolated from Pacific Rim marine organisms. These compounds have novel and unusual structures that exhibit incredibly potent and varied bioactivities. This review details the isolation, biological testing and prospects for this exciting new family with discussion of their potential biogenetic origins.