Yoshihiro Sohtome

Entropy‐Controlled Catalytic Asymmetric 1,4‐Type Friedel–Crafts Reaction of Phenols Using Conformationally Flexible Guanidine/Bisthiourea Organocatalyst

One of the most important aspects of protein function is the motion that occurs in response to substrate binding. In the dynamics of enzyme catalysis, multiple weak hydrogenbonding interactions in the polypeptide that are controlled by interrelated enthalpy and entropy changes play a significant role in governing the conformational changes that take place. In contrast, the development of asymmetric organocatalysts has rarely focused on hydrogen-bond donors that have conformationally flexible scaffolds as a likely consequence of difficulties in controlling the conformation of acyclic skeletons. However, recently our research group has successfully demonstrated the utility of conformationally flexible guanidine/bisthiourea organocatalysts 1 for organocatalytic carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions. Herein, we describe studies that have led to the development of new acyclic C3-linked guanidine/bisthiourea organocatalysts 2. Analysis of these processes shows that the catalytic effect resides in a trade off between enthalpies and entropies of activation and reveals the existence of dramatic concentration effects. This investigation has uncovered a unique catalytic stereodiscrimination process controlled only by differences in the activation entropies. The primary aim of this study was to extend our newly developed organocatalytic system to asymmetric 1,4-additions reactions of nitroolefins. A plausible interaction mode for the catalytic reactions of nitroolefins with nucleophilic anions is shown in Scheme 1. In the reactive complex involving an acyclic guanidine/bisthiourea organocatalyst, the thiourea moiety can interact with the nitro group in the acceptor and ionic interactions with the guanidinium cation can orient a nucleophilic anion. We envisaged that a long chiral spacer between the two centers in the catalyst would be required for the promotion of the 1,4-addition reactions that take advantage of these synergistic proximity effects. In the current study, we initially selected catalytic asymmetric Friedel–Crafts (FC) reactions 16] of phenol derivatives. Although a variety of electron-rich aromatic compounds such as indoles, pyrroles, and furans have been successfully utilized as nucleophiles in 1,4-addition processes, 16] asymmetric reactions of phenol derivatives have been rarely studied. The difficulty in employing phenol derivatives in these processes could be a result of two intrinsic factors that are related to the fact that phenoxide anions generated in situ 1) often promote ligand exchange with metal catalysts, and 2) can participate in reactions that take place with low levels of chemoand regioselectivity. In 2007, Chen and co-workers developed the first 1,4-type of FC reaction of naphthols with nitroolefins that utilize cinchona-based thiourea catalysts. These processes give ortho-selective FC products with 85– 95% ee. However, the undesired dimeric furans that are formed in these reactions cannot be easily separated from the target chiral phenols. Following this early study, most catalytic reactions of phenols were designed to prepare pyrans c] and chromanes through C-alkylation/O-cyclization cascade processes. Thus, to broaden the utility of this process in the preparation of chiral phenols, alternative approaches have been explored to repress the inherent cascade pathway. To evaluate the catalytic activities of newly designed C3tethered guanidine/bisthiourea catalysts, initial studies were conducted using sesamol (3a) and nitroalkene 4 a (1.0 equiv) as substrates. As the results displayed in Table 1 show, 2 effectively promotes nucleophilic addition at the C6 position of 3a to selectively afford the corresponding Scheme 1. The structures of 1 and 2, and working model for 1,4additions with nitroolefins.

Stereodivergent Catalytic Doubly Diastereoselective Nitroaldol Reactions Using Heterobimetallic Complexes

Stereodivergent construction of three contiguous stereocenters in catalytic doubly diastereoselective nitroaldol reactions of alpha-chiral aldehydes with nitroacetaldehyde dimethyl acetal using two types of heterobimetallic catalysts is described. A La-Li-BINOL (LLB) catalyst afforded anti,syn-nitroaldol products in >20:1-14:1 selectivity, and a Pd/La/Schiff base catalyst afforded complimentary syn,syn-nitroaldol products in 10:1-5:1 selectivity.

Dynamic asymmetric organocatalysis: cooperative effects of weak interactions and conformational flexibility in asymmetric organocatalysts

This review describes recent advances by our research group in the design and applications of conformationally flexible guanidine/bisthiourea organocatalysts to facilitate unique bond-forming processes, including retro-free, enantiodivergent, entropy-controlled, and cycle-specific organocatalysis. Special emphasis is placed on the key requirements to attain high selectivity and on functional switching by exploiting the structural flexibility of our organocatalysts.

Selenium-based S-adenosylmethionine analog reveals the mammalian seven-beta-strand methyltransferase METTL10 to be an EF1A1 lysine methyltransferase.

Lysine methylation has been extensively studied in histones, where it has been shown to provide specific epigenetic marks for the regulation of gene expression; however, the molecular mechanism and physiological function of lysine methylation in proteins other than histones remains to be fully addressed. To better understand the substrate diversity of lysine methylation, S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) derivatives with alkyne-moieties have been synthesized. A selenium-based SAM analog, propargylic Se-adenosyl-l-selenomethionine (ProSeAM), has a wide spectrum of reactivity against various lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) with sufficient stability to support enzymatic reactions in vitro. By using ProSeAM as a chemical probe for lysine methylation, we identified substrates for two seven-beta-strand KMTs, METTL21A and METTL10, on a proteomic scale in mammalian cells. METTL21A has been characterized as a heat shock protein (HSP)-70 methyltransferase. Mammalian METTL10 remains functionally uncharacterized, although its ortholog in yeast, See1, has been shown to methylate the translation elongation factor eEF1A. By using ProSeAM-mediated alkylation followed by purification and quantitative MS analysis, we confirmed that METTL21A labels HSP70 family proteins. Furthermore, we demonstrated that METTL10 also methylates the eukaryotic elongation factor EF1A1 in mammalian cells. Subsequent biochemical characterization revealed that METTL10 specifically trimethylates EF1A1 at lysine 318 and that siRNA-mediated knockdown of METTL10 decreases EF1A1 methylation levels in vivo. Thus, our study emphasizes the utility of the synthetic cofactor ProSeAM as a chemical probe for the identification of non-histone substrates of KMTs.

Linking conformational flexibility and kinetics: catalytic 1,4-type Friedel-Crafts reactions of phenols utilizing 1,3-diamine-tethered guanidine/bisthiourea organocatalysts.

Herein, we present details of our conformationally flexible, 1,3-diamine-tethered guanidine/bisthiourea organocatalysts for chemo-, regio-, and enantioselective 1,4-type Friedel-Crafts reactions of phenols. These organocatalysts show a unique stereo-discrimination governed by the differential activation entropy (ΔΔS(≠)), rather than by the differential activation enthalpy (ΔΔH(≠)). Extensive kinetic analyses using Eyring plots for a series of guanidine/bisthiourea organocatalysts revealed the key structural motif in the catalysts associated with a large magnitude of differential activation entropy (ΔΔS(≠)). A plausible guanidine-thiourea cooperative mechanism for the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction is proposed.

Epidithiodiketopiperazine as a pharmacophore for protein lysine methyltransferase G9a inhibitors: reducing cytotoxicity by structural simplification.

Chaetocin (1), a structurally complex epidithiodiketopiperazine (ETP) alkaloid produced by Chaetomium minutum, is a potent inhibitor of protein lysine methyltransferase G9a, which plays important roles in many biological processes. Here we present our synthetic investigations to identify a simple prototype G9a inhibitor structure based on structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies on chaetocin derivatives. The simple derivative PS-ETP-1 (14) was found to be a potent G9a inhibitor with greatly reduced cytotoxicity.

Entropy‐Driven 1,2‐Type Friedel–Crafts Reaction of Phenols with N‐tert‐Butoxycarbonyl Aldimines

Differential activation entropy (ΔΔS(≠)) is revisited as an important parameter that governs catalytic stereodiscrimination processes by investigating temperature effects on the basis of the Eyring theory. However, correlating the ΔΔS(≠) effect and the molecular structure of the asymmetric catalyst is still an underdeveloped area. Efforts to identify factors (including catalyst structure, reactants, and reaction conditions) that contribute to the attainment of large ΔΔS(≠) values for enantioselective 1,2-type Friedel-Crafts reactions of phenols with N-tert-butoxycarbonyl aldimines catalyzed by conformationally flexible guanidine bisthioureas are described. First, we uncover an interesting property of the ΔΔS(≠)-driven stereodiscrimination process: maximum enantioselectivity is obtained at around room temperature. Second, a plausible transition-state model accounting for the characteristic ΔΔS(≠) effect and the structural dynamics of the conformationally flexible organocatalyst in the stereodiscrimination process is discussed.

Solvent-dependent copper-catalyzed synthesis of pyrazoles under aerobic conditions

We present a copper-catalyzed oxidative cyclization of β,γ-unsaturated hydrazones, utilizing molecular oxygen as a stoichiometric oxidant. The methodology provides distinct classes of pyrazoles simply by changing the reaction solvent. Tris-substituted pyrazoles, having a ketone functionality at the C-5 position, were obtained as the major product in ethanol, while di-substituted pyrazoles were predominantly formed in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol.

Catalytic Enantioselective [3 + 2] Cycloaddition of α-Keto Ester Enolates and Nitrile Oxides

An enantioselective [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction between nitrile oxides and transiently generated enolates of α-keto esters has been developed. The catalyst system was found to be compatible with in situ nitrile oxide-generation conditions. A versatile array of nitrile oxides and α-keto esters could participate in the cycloaddition, providing novel 5-hydroxy-2-isoxazolines in high chemical yield with high levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity. Notably, the optimal reaction conditions circumvented concurrent reactions via O-imidoylation and hetero-[3 + 2] pathways.

Tri-methylation of ATF7IP by G9a/GLP recruits the chromodomain protein MPP8

BackgroundG9a and the related enzyme GLP were originally identified as histone lysine methyltransferases and then shown to also methylate several other non-histone proteins.ResultsHere, we performed a comprehensive screen to identify their substrates in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). We identified 59 proteins, including histones and other known substrates. One of the identified substrates, activating transcriptional factor 7-interacting protein 1 (ATF7IP), is tri-methylated at a histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9)-like mimic by the G9a/GLP complex, although this complex mainly introduces di-methylation on H3K9 and DNA ligase 1 (LIG1) K126 in cells. The catalytic domain of G9a showed a higher affinity for di-methylated lysine on ATF7IP than LIG1, which may create different methylation levels of different substrates in cells. Furthermore, we found that M-phase phosphoprotein 8 (MPP8), known as a H3K9me3-binding protein, recognizes methylated ATF7IP via its chromodomain. MPP8 is also a known component of the human silencing hub complex that mediates silencing of transgenes via SETDB1 recruitment, which is a binding partner of ATF7IP. Although the interaction between ATF7IP and SETDB1 does not depend on ATF7IP methylation, we found that induction of SETDB1/MPP8-mediated reporter-provirus silencing is delayed in mESCs expressing only an un-methylatable mutant of ATF7IP.ConclusionsOur findings provide new insights into the roles of lysine methylation in non-histone substrates which are targeted by the G9a/GLP complex and suggest a potential function of ATF7IP methylation in SETDB1/MPP8-mediated transgene silencing.