Hiroki Oguri

Biogenetically inspired synthesis and skeletal diversification of indole alkaloids

To access architecturally complex natural products, chemists usually devise a customized synthetic strategy for constructing a single target skeleton. In contrast, biosynthetic assembly lines often employ divergent intramolecular cyclizations of a polyunsaturated common intermediate to produce diverse arrays of scaffolds. With the aim of integrating such biogenetic strategies, we show the development of an artificial divergent assembly line generating unprecedented numbers of scaffold variations of terpenoid indole alkaloids. This approach not only allows practical access to multipotent intermediates, but also enables systematic diversification of skeletal, stereochemical and functional group properties without structural simplification of naturally occurring alkaloids. Three distinct modes of [4+2] cyclizations and two types of redox-mediated annulations provided divergent access to five skeletally distinct scaffolds involving iboga-, aspidosperma-, andranginine- and ngouniensine-type skeletons and a non-natural variant within six to nine steps from tryptamine. The efficiency of our approach was demonstrated by successful total syntheses of (±)-vincadifformine, (±)-andranginine and (-)-catharanthine.

Asymmetric Baylis-Hillman reactions using chiral 2,3-disubstituted 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octanes catalysts under high pressure conditions

Abstract Chiral C 2 -symmetric 2,3-disubstituted 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octanes (DABCOs) ( 1 ) have been utilized as catalysts for asymmetric Baylis-Hillman reactions. Optically active α-methylene-β-hydroxyalkanone was obtained in up to 47% ee. Under high pressure conditions, a remarkable enhancement of both reaction rate and enantioselectivity has been observed.

Solanapyrone synthase, a possible Diels-Alderase and iterative type I polyketide synthase encoded in a biosynthetic gene cluster from Alternaria solani.

The solanapyrone biosynthetic gene cluster was cloned from Alternaria solani. It consists of six genes—sol1–6—coding for a polyketide synthase, an O‐methyltransferase, a dehydrogenase, a transcription factor, a flavin‐dependent oxidase, and cytochrome P450. The prosolanapyrone synthase (PSS) encoded by sol1 was expressed in Aspergillus oryzae and its product was identified as desmethylprosolanapyrone I (8). Although PSS is closely related to the PKSs/Diels–Alderases LovB and MlcA of lovastatin and compactin biosynthesis, it did not catalyze cycloaddition. Sol5, encoding a flavin‐dependent oxidase (solanapyrone synthase, SPS), was expressed in Pichia pastoris and purified. The purified recombinant SPS showed activity for the formation of (−)‐solanapyrone A (1) from achiral prosolanapyrone II (2), establishing that this single enzyme catalyzes both the oxidation and the subsequent cycloaddition reaction, possibly as a Diels–Alder enzyme.

Reconstruction of the saframycin core scaffold defines dual Pictet-Spengler mechanisms

Saframycin A is a potent antitumor antibiotic with a unique pentacyclic tetrahydroisoquinoline scaffold. We found that the nonribosomal peptide synthetase SfmC catalyzes a seven-step transformation of readily synthesized dipeptidyl substrates with long acyl chains into a complex saframycin scaffold. Based on a series of enzymatic reactions, we propose a detailed mechanism involving the reduction of various peptidyl thioesters by a single R domain followed by iterative C domain-mediated Pictet-Spengler reactions.

Epoxide Hydrolase Lsd19 for Polyether Formation in the Biosynthesis of Lasalocid A: Direct Experimental Evidence on Polyene-Polyepoxide Hypothesis in Polyether Biosynthesis

Polyether metabolites are an important class of natural products. Although their biosynthesis, especially construction of polyether skeletons, attracted organic chemists for many years, no experimental data on the enzymatic polyether formation has been obtained. In this study, a putative epoxide hydrolase gene lsd19 found on the biosynthetic gene cluster of an ionophore polyether lasalocid was cloned and successfully overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Using the purified Lsd19, a proposed substrate, bisepoxyprelasalocid, and its synthesized analogue were successfully converted into lasalocid A and its derivative via a 6-endo-tet cyclization mode. On the other hand, treatment of the bisepoxide with trichloroacetic acid gave isolasalocid A via a 5-exo-tet cyclization mode. Therefore, the enzymatic conversion observed in this study unambiguously showed that the bisepoxyprelasalocid is an intermediate of the lasalocid biosynthesis and that Lsd19 catalyzes the sequential cyclic ether formations involving an energetically disfavored 6-endo-tet cyclization. This is the first example of the enzymatic epoxide-opening reactions leading to a polyether natural product.

EXPEDITIOUS TANDEM-METATHESIS ROUTE TO THE AB-RING FRAGMENT OF CIGUATOXIN

Abstract The AB-ring fragment of ciguatoxin was synthesized in ten steps from tri-O-benzyl- d -glucal based on a highly diastereoselective ring-closing metathesis and subsequent cross metathesis.

Convergent synthesis of the ABCDE ring system of ciguatoxin CTX3C

Ciguatoxin CTX3C is a representative congener of the ciguatoxins, which are known to be the principal causative-agents of ciguatera seafood poisoning. The structure of CTX3C spans over three nanometers and is characterized by thirteen ether rings. To attain a practical construction of this molecule, efficient supplies of the structural fragments are crucial. Herein we report the convergent synthesis of the ABCDE ring fragment featuring (i) alkylative coupling of the AB ring and E ring, and (ii) ring-closing olefin metathesis.

Synthetic study of ciguatoxin. Absolute configuration of the C2 hydroxy group

The absolute stereochemistry of the secondary alcohol of the 1,2-dihydroxybutenyl substituent of ciguatoxin (1) was shown to be S by comparing the split CD curve of ciguatoxin tetra-p-bromobenzoate (2) with those of di- and tri-p-bromobenzoates of AB ring fragments that were synthesized enantioselectively.

Generation of Anti-trypanosomal Agents through Concise Synthesis and Structural Diversification of Sesquiterpene Analogues

To access high-quality small-molecule libraries to screen lead candidates for neglected diseases exemplified by human African trypanosomiasis, we sought to develop a synthetic process that would produce collections of cyclic scaffolds relevant to an assortment of natural products exhibiting desirable biological activities. By extracting the common structural features among several sesquiterpenes, including artemisinin, anthecularin, and transtaganolides, we designed six types of scaffolds with systematic structural variations consisting of three types of stereochemical relationships on the sp(3) ring-junctions and two distinct arrays of tricyclic frameworks. A modular and stereodivergent assembly of dienynes exploiting a versatile manifold produced a series of cyclization precursors. Divergent cyclizations of the dienynes employing tandem ring-closing metathesis reactions overrode variant reactivities of the cyclization precursors, leading to the six canonical sets of the tricyclic scaffolds incorporating a diene group. Screenings of trypanosomal activities of the canonical sets, as well as regio- and stereoisomers of the tricyclic dienes, allowed generation of several anti-trypanosomal agents defining the three-dimensional shape of the pharmacophore. The candidate tricyclic dienes were selected by primary screenings and further subjected to installation of a peroxide bridge, which generated artemisinin analogues that exhibited potent in vitro anti-trypanosomal activities comparable or even superior to those of artemisinin and the approved drugs, suramin and eflornithine.

Escherichia coli allows efficient modular incorporation of newly isolated quinomycin biosynthetic enzyme into echinomycin biosynthetic pathway for rational design and synthesis of potent antibiotic unnatural natural product

Natural products display impressive activities against a wide range of targets, including viruses, microbes, and tumors. However, their clinical use is hampered frequently by their scarcity and undesirable toxicity. Not only can engineering Escherichia coli for plasmid-based pharmacophore biosynthesis offer alternative means of simple and easily scalable production of valuable yet hard-to-obtain compounds, but also carries a potential for providing a straightforward and efficient means of preparing natural product analogs. The quinomycin family of nonribosomal peptides, including echinomycin, triostin A, and SW-163s, are important secondary metabolites imparting antibiotic antitumor activity via DNA bisintercalation. Previously we have shown the production of echinomycin and triostin A in E. coli using our convenient and modular plasmid system to introduce these heterologous biosynthetic pathways into E. coli. However, we have yet to develop a novel biosynthetic pathway capable of producing bioactive unnatural natural products in E. coli. Here we report an identification of a new gene cluster responsible for the biosynthesis of SW-163s that involves previously unknown biosynthesis of (+)-(1S, 2S)-norcoronamic acid and generation of aliphatic side chains of various sizes via iterative methylation of an unactivated carbon center. Substituting an echinomycin biosynthetic gene with a gene from the newly identified SW-163 biosynthetic gene cluster, we were able to rationally re-engineer the plasmid-based echinomycin biosynthetic pathway for the production of a novel bioactive compound in E. coli.