Faculty Bibliography

The development of an azobenzene building block for Suzuki couplings and its application in the synthesis of photochromic agonists and antagonists is reported. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A concise, stereoselective, and convergent total synthesis of the unnatural enantiomer of the neodolastane diterpenoid heptemerone B has been completed. Saponification of (-)-heptemerone afforded (-)-guanacastepene E. The absolute stereochemistry of (-)-heptemerone B was thus established as 5-(S), the same as (-)-guanacastepene E. The longest linear sequence of the synthesis comprises 17 (18) steps from simple known starting materials. Our general synthetic approach integrates a diverse set of reactions, including an intramolecular Heck reaction to create one quaternary stereocenter and a cuprate conjugate addition for the establishment of the other. The central seven-membered ring was closed with an uncommon electrochemical oxidation, whereas the five-membered ring was formed through ring-closing metathesis. The absolute configuration of the two key building blocks was established through an asymmetric reduction and an asymmetric ene reaction.

Ion channels are gated by a variety of stimuli, including ligands, voltage, membrane tension, temperature, and even light. Natural gates can be altered and augmented using synthetic chemistry and molecular biology to develop channels with completely new functional properties. Light-sensitive channels are particularly attractive because optical manipulation offers a high degree of spatial and temporal control. Over the last few decades, several channels have been successfully rendered responsive to light, including the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, gramicidin A, a voltage-gated potassium channel, an ionotropic glutamate receptor, alpha-hemolysin, and a mechanosensitive channel. Very recently, naturally occurring light-gated cation channels have been discovered. This review covers the molecular principles that guide the engineering of light-gated ion channels for applications in biology and medicine.

The asymmetric total synthesis of (-)-bipinnatin J and its conversion into (+)-intricarene through a transannular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition is described. In addition, the conversion of (-)-bipinnatin J into (+)-rubifolide and (+)-isoepilophodione B is reported. Biosynthetic relationships among furanocembranoids and the possible role of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions in biosynthesis are discussed. [reaction: see text]