Metal complexes coordinated by a single cyclopentadienyl (Cp) ligand are widely used, versatile catalysts, but their application to asymmetric reactions has been hindered by the difficulty of designing Cp substituents that effectively bias the coordination sphere. Here, we report on a class of simple C(2)-symmetric Cp derivatives that finely control the spatial arrangement of the transiently coordinated reactants around the central metal atom. Rhodium(III) complexes bearing these ligands proved to be highly enantioselective catalysts for directed carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bond functionalizations of hydroxamic acid derivatives.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/338/6106/504.full.pdf

Chiral Cyclopentadienyl Ligands as Stereocontrolling Element in Asymmetric C–H Functionalization

Hydroxamate-based histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) have been approved as therapeutic agents by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in oncology applications. While the potential utility of such HDACIs in other areas of medicinal chemistry is tremendous, there are significant concerns that "pan-HDAC inhibitors" may be too broadly acting and/or toxic for clinical use beyond oncology. In addition to the isozyme selectivity challenge, the potential mutagenicity of hydroxamate-containing HDAC inhibitors represents a major hindrance in their application to other therapeutic areas. Herein we report on the mutagenicity of known hydroxamates, discuss the mechanisms responsible for their genotoxicity, and review some of the current alternatives to hydroxamates. We conclude that the hydroxamate group, while providing high-potency HDACIs, is not necessarily the best zinc-binding group for HDACI drug discovery.

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Why Hydroxamates May Not Be the Best Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors - What Some May Have Forgotten or Would Rather Forget?

Diversely substituted anilines are prepared by treatment of functionalized arylboronic acids with a common, inexpensive source of electrophilic nitrogen (H2N-OSO3H, HSA) under basic aqueous conditions. Electron-rich substrates are found to be the most reactive by this method. However, even moderately electron-poor substrates are well tolerated under the room temperature conditions. Sterically hindered substrates appear to be equally effective compared to unhindered ones. Highly electron-deficient substrates afford product in very low yields at room temperature, but moderate to good yields are obtained at refluxing temperatures. Our method is also amenable to electrophilic amination of several common boronic acid derivatives (e.g., pinacol esters). We demonstrate that it can be combined with metal–halogen exchange reactions or a variety of directed ortho metalation protocols in a “one-pot” sequence for the synthesis of aromatic amines with unique substitution patterns. DFT studies, in combination with expe...

Transition-Metal-Free Access to Primary Anilines from Boronic Acids and a Common +NH2 Equivalent.

The structure and reactivity of a complex of zinc(II), water, acetic acid, and acetohydroxamic acid, in which one of the acids is deprotonated, is investigated by means of mass spectrometry, labeling studies, and density functional calculations to unravel the exceptional binding properties of hydroxamic acids towards zinc-containing enzymes at the molecular level. It is shown that acetohydroxamic acid is deprotonated in the complex, whereas acetic acid is present in its neutral form. The binding energies of the ligands towards zinc increase in the following order: water<acetic acid<acetohydroxamic acid. The structure of the complex and its fragmentation provide experimental evidence for the proposed mode of operation of drugs based on hydroxamic acids. Furthermore, coordinatively unsaturated complexes of zinc and acetohydroxamic acid undergo a zinc-assisted Lossen rearrangement followed by elimination of water if acetohydroxamic acid is present as a neutral ligand, or by loss of methylisocyanate if acetohydroxamic acid is deprotonated.

The Interaction of Zinc(II) and Hydroxamic Acids and a Metal-Triggered Lossen Rearrangement

A new reaction mechanism for the Lossen rearrangement of hydroxamic acids catalyzed by basic salts is presented. It is shown that the rearrangement proceeds in metal complexes of deprotonated hydroxamic acids. The deprotonation can occur either at the oxygen atom (observed for the zinc complexes) or at the nitrogen atom (observed for the potassium complexes). Both anionic forms are characterized by infrared multiphoton dissociation spectroscopy. The rearrangements proceed from the reactive N-deprotonated metal hydroxamates and lead to metal carbamates. The mechanism is elucidated by computational chemistry, mass-spectrometric studies, and preparative experiments.

Metal-assisted Lossen Rearrangement

A variety of aromatic and aliphatic hydroxamic acids were converted to the corresponding primary amines via base-mediated rearrangement. This rearrangement could proceed with less than 1 equiv. of K2CO3 in polar solvents under thermal conditions with no external reagents. This rearrangement has several features including no external activating agents needed for promoting the rearrangement, less than one equivalent of a base is sufficient for the reaction, and a clean reaction in which only carbon dioxide is produced as a by-product. A self-propagating mechanism via an isocyanate intermediate is proposed and elementary reaction steps, namely, chain propagation reactions are supported by experiments.

A base-mediated self-propagative Lossen rearrangement of hydroxamic acids for the efficient and facile synthesis of aromatic and aliphatic primary amines

Base-mediated rearrangement of free aromatic hydroxamic acids (ArCO-NHOH) to anilines

Without using activating agents, a variety of free aromatic hydroxamic acids could be rearranged to aromatic amines in the presence of base alone.

Moriaki Okuno

Papers

A base-mediated self-propagative Lossen rearrangement of hydroxamic acids for the efficient and facile synthesis of aromatic and aliphatic primary amines

Base-mediated rearrangement of free aromatic hydroxamic acids (ArCO-NHOH) to anilines

Base-Mediated Rearrangement of Free Aromatic Hydroxamic Acids (ArCO—NHOH) to Anilines.