Patrick G. Steel

Alkylboronic Esters from Copper‐Catalyzed Borylation of Primary and Secondary Alkyl Halides and Pseudohalides

Easy access: An unprecedented copper-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of the title compounds with diboron reagents is described (see scheme; Ts = 4-toluenesulfonyl). This reaction can be used to prepare both primary and secondary alkylboronic esters having diverse structures and functional groups. The resulting products would be difficult to access by other means.

The C-Glycosylation of Flavonoids in Cereals

Flavonoids normally accumulate in plants as O-glycosylated derivatives, but several species, including major cereal crops, predominantly synthesize flavone-C-glycosides, which are stable to hydrolysis and are biologically active both in planta and as dietary components. An enzyme (OsCGT) catalyzing the UDP-glucose-dependent C-glucosylation of 2-hydroxyflavanone precursors of flavonoids has been identified and cloned from rice (Oryza sativa ssp. indica), with a similar protein characterized in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). OsCGT is a 49-kDa family 1 glycosyltransferase related to known O-glucosyltransferases. The recombinant enzyme C-glucosylated 2-hydroxyflavanones but had negligible O-glucosyltransferase activity with flavonoid acceptors. Enzyme chemistry studies suggested that OsCGT preferentially C-glucosylated the dibenzoylmethane tautomers formed in equilibrium with 2-hydroxyflavanones. The resulting 2-hydroxyflavanone-C-glucosides were unstable and spontaneously dehydrated in vitro to yield a mixture of 6C- and 8C-glucosyl derivatives of the respective flavones. In contrast, in planta, only the respective 6C-glucosides accumulated. Consistent with this selectivity in glycosylation product, a dehydratase activity that preferentially converted 2-hydroxyflavanone-C-glucosides to the corresponding flavone-6C-glucosides was identified in both rice and wheat. Our results demonstrate that cereal crops synthesize C-glucosylated flavones through the concerted action of a CGT and dehydratase acting on activated 2-hydroxyflavanones, as an alternative means of generating flavonoid metabolites.

Key role for a glutathione transferase in multiple-herbicide resistance in grass weeds

Multiple-herbicide resistance (MHR) in black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) and annual rye-grass (Lolium rigidum) is a global problem leading to a loss of chemical weed control in cereal crops. Although poorly understood, in common with multiple-drug resistance (MDR) in tumors, MHR is associated with an enhanced ability to detoxify xenobiotics. In humans, MDR is linked to the overexpression of a pi class glutathione transferase (GSTP1), which has both detoxification and signaling functions in promoting drug resistance. In both annual rye-grass and black-grass, MHR was also associated with the increased expression of an evolutionarily distinct plant phi (F) GSTF1 that had a restricted ability to detoxify herbicides. When the black-grass A. myosuroides (Am) AmGSTF1 was expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana, the transgenic plants acquired resistance to multiple herbicides and showed similar changes in their secondary, xenobiotic, and antioxidant metabolism to those determined in MHR weeds. Transcriptome array experiments showed that these changes in biochemistry were not due to changes in gene expression. Rather, AmGSTF1 exerted a direct regulatory control on metabolism that led to an accumulation of protective flavonoids. Further evidence for a key role for this protein in MHR was obtained by showing that the GSTP1- and MDR-inhibiting pharmacophore 4-chloro-7-nitro-benzoxadiazole was also active toward AmGSTF1 and helped restore herbicide control in MHR black-grass. These studies demonstrate a central role for specific GSTFs in MHR in weeds that has parallels with similar roles for unrelated GSTs in MDR in humans and shows their potential as targets for chemical intervention in resistant weed management.

Zinc‐Catalyzed Borylation of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Alkyl Halides with Alkoxy Diboron Reagents at Room Temperature

A new catalytic system based on a Zn(II) NHC precursor has been developed for the cross-coupling reaction of alkyl halides with diboron reagents, which represents a novel use of a Group XII catalyst for CX borylation. This approach gives borylations of unactivated primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl halides at room temperature to furnish alkyl boronates, with good functional-group compatibility, under mild conditions. Preliminary mechanistic investigations demonstrated that this borylation reaction seems to involve one-electron processes.

Microwave-Accelerated Iridium-Catalyzed Borylation of Aromatic C−H Bonds

Microwave heating accelerates the Ir-catalyzed C-H borylation of aromatic substrates when compared with reactions carried out at the same temperature under standard heating conditions. Application to a one-pot single solvent process for tandem C-H borylation/Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling sequences using microwave-accelerated reactions gives fast and efficient access to a wide range of biaryl and heterobiaryl compounds.

Iridium-catalyzed C–H borylation of quinolines and unsymmetrical 1,2-disubstituted benzenes: insights into steric and electronic effects on selectivity

Borylation of quinolines provides an attractive method for the late-stage functionalization of this important heterocycle. The regiochemistry of this reaction is dominated by steric factors but, by undertaking reactions at room temperature, an underlying electronic selectivity becomes apparent, as exemplified by the comparative reactions of 7-halo-2-methylquinoline and 2,7-dimethylquinoline which afford variable amounts of the 5- and 4-borylated products. Similar electronic selectivities are observed for nonsymmetrical 1,2-disubstituted benzenes. The site of borylation can be simply estimated by analysis of the 1H NMR spectrum of the starting material with preferential borylation occurring at the site of the most deshielded sterically accessible hydrogen or carbon atom. Such effects can be linked with C–H acidity. Whilst DFT calculations of the pKa for the C–H bond show good correlation with the observed selectivity, small differences suggest that related alternative, but much more computationally demanding values, such as the M–C bond strength, may be better quantitative predictors of selectivity.

Zinc-Catalyzed Dual C-X and C-H Borylation of Aryl Halides

A zinc-catalyzed combined C-X and C-H borylation of aryl halides using B2 pin2 (pin=OCMe2 CMe2 O) to produce the corresponding 1,2-diborylarenes under mild conditions was developed. Catalytic C-H bond activation occurs ortho to the halide groups if such a site is available or meta to the halide if the ortho position is already substituted. This method thus represents a novel use of a group XII catalyst for C-H borylation. This transformation does not proceed via a free aryne intermediate, but a radical process seems to be involved.

Catabolism of Glutathione Conjugates in Arabidopsis thaliana ROLE IN METABOLIC REACTIVATION OF THE HERBICIDE SAFENER FENCLORIM

The safener fenclorim (4,6-dichloro-2-phenylpyrimidine) increases tolerance to chloroacetanilide herbicides in rice by enhancing the expression of detoxifying glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). Fenclorim also enhances GSTs in Arabidopsis thaliana, and while investigating the functional significance of this induction in suspension cultures, we determined that these enzymes glutathionylated the safener. The resulting S-(fenclorim)-glutathione conjugate was sequentially processed to S-(fenclorim)-γ-glutamyl-cysteine and S-(fenclorim)-cysteine (FC), the latter accumulating in both the cells and the medium. FC was then either catabolized to 4-chloro-6-(methylthio)-phenylpyrimidine (CMTP) or N-acylated with malonic acid. These cysteine derivatives had distinct fates, with the enzymes responsible for their formation being induced by fenclorim and FC. Fenclorim-N-malonylcysteine was formed from FC by the action of a malonyl-CoA-dependent N-malonyltransferase. A small proportion of the fenclorim-N-malonylcysteine then underwent decarboxylation to yield a putative S-fenclorim-N-acetylcysteine intermediate, which underwent a second round of GST-mediated S-glutathionylation and subsequent proteolytic processing. The formation of CMTP was catalyzed by the concerted action of a cysteine conjugate β-lyase and an S-methyltransferase, with the two activities being coordinately regulated. Although the fenclorim conjugates tested showed little GST-inducing activity in Arabidopsis, the formation of CMTP resulted in metabolic reactivation, with the product showing good enhancing activity. In addition, CMTP induced GSTs and herbicide-safening activity in rice. The bioactivated CMTP was in turn glutathione-conjugated and processed to a malonyl cysteine derivative. These results reveal the surprisingly complex set of competing catabolic reactions acting on xenobiotics entering the S-glutathionylation pathway in plants, which can result in both detoxification and bioactivation.

Xenobiotic Responsiveness of Arabidopsis thaliana to a Chemical Series Derived from a Herbicide Safener

Plants respond to synthetic chemicals by eliciting a xenobiotic response (XR) that enhances the expression of detoxifying enzymes such as glutathione transferases (GSTs). In agrochemistry, the ability of safeners to induce an XR is used to increase herbicide detoxification in cereal crops. Based on the responsiveness of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to the rice safener fenclorim (4,6-dichloro-2-phenylpyrimidine), a series of related derivatives was prepared and tested for the ability to induce GSTs in cell suspension cultures. The XR in Arabidopsis could be divided into rapid and slow types depending on subtle variations in the reactivity (electrophilicity) and chemical structure of the derivatives. In a comparative microarray study, Arabidopsis cultures were treated with closely related compounds that elicited rapid (fenclorim) and slow (4-chloro-6-methyl-2-phenylpyrimidine) XRs. Both chemicals induced major changes in gene expression, including a coordinated suppression in cell wall biosynthesis and an up-regulation in detoxification pathways, whereas only fenclorim selectively induced sulfur and phenolic metabolism. These transcriptome studies suggested several linkages between the XR and oxidative and oxylipin signaling. Confirming links with abiotic stress signaling, suppression of glutathione content enhanced GST induction by fenclorim, whereas fatty acid desaturase mutants, which were unable to synthesize oxylipins, showed an attenuated XR. Examining the significance of these studies to agrochemistry, only those fenclorim derivatives that elicited a rapid XR proved effective in increasing herbicide tolerance (safening) in rice.

A simple method for the quantitative analysis of resin bound thiol groups

Abstract Non-aqueous solutions of Ellmans reagent [5,5′-dithio(2-nitrobenzoic acid), DTNB] can be used to quantify thiols supported on macroporous polystyrene and TentaGel resins. Organic solutions of Ellmans reagent may also be used as a qualitative tests for thiols on a wider range of solid supports.