https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2019/NP/C8NP00092A

Marine natural products.

■ Abstract Apoptosis is a genetically programmed, morphologically distinct form of cell death that can be triggered by a variety of physiological and pathological stimuli. Studies performed over the past 10 years have demonstrated that proteases play critical roles in initiation and execution of this process. The caspases, a family of cysteine-dependent aspartate-directed proteases, are prominent among the death proteases. Caspases are synthesized as relatively inactive zymogens that become activated by scaffold-mediated transactivation or by cleavage via upstream proteases in an intracellular cascade. Regulation of caspase activation and activity occurs at several different levels: ( a) Zymogen gene transcription is regulated; ( b) antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family and other cellular polypeptides block proximity-induced activation of certain procaspases; and ( c) certain cellular inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (cIAPs) can bind to and inhibit active caspases. Once activated, caspases cleave a variety of intracellular polypeptides, including major structural elements of the cytoplasm and nucleus, components of the DNA repair machinery, and a number of protein kinases. Collectively, these scissions disrupt survival pathways and disassemble important architectural components of the cell, contributing to the stereotypic morphological and biochemical changes that characterize apoptotic cell death.

Mammalian caspases: structure ,a ctivation ,s ubstrates, and functions during apoptosis

The direct functionalization of C-H bonds in organic compounds has recently emerged as a powerful and ideal method for the formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. This Review provides an overview of C-H bond functionalization strategies for the rapid synthesis of biologically active compounds such as natural products and pharmaceutical targets.

C-H bond functionalization: emerging synthetic tools for natural products and pharmaceuticals

Natural products: a continuing source of novel drug leads.

In studying the evolution of organic chemistry and grasping its essence, one comes quickly to the conclusion that no other type of reaction plays as large a role in shaping this domain of science than carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. The Grignard, Diels-Alder, and Wittig reactions are but three prominent examples of such processes, and are among those which have undeniably exercised decisive roles in the last century in the emergence of chemical synthesis as we know it today. In the last quarter of the 20th century, a new family of carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions based on transition-metal catalysts evolved as powerful tools in synthesis. Among them, the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are the most prominent. In this Review, highlights of a number of selected syntheses are discussed. The examples chosen demonstrate the enormous power of these processes in the art of total synthesis and underscore their future potential in chemical synthesis.

Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions in total synthesis.

Chemistry and biology of the tetrahydroisoquinoline antitumor antibiotics.

The Asymmetric Total Synthesis of (+)- and (−)-Spirotryprostatin B

The methodology deployed involves either cuprate or Friedel-Crafts couplings to chiral bromoglycinates. The % ee's range from 82 to 94%. Both an oxidative and reductive protocol are employed to unmask the oxazinone chiral auxiliary providing the free α-amino acids

Asymmetric synthesis of arylglycines

Asymmetric synthesis of monosubstituted and .alpha.,.alpha.-disubstituted .alpha.-amino acids via diastereoselective glycine enolate alkylations

A central feature in the biosynthesis of Taxol is oxygenation at multiple positions of the taxane core structure, reactions that are considered to be mediated by cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenases. A PCR-based differential display-cloning approach, using Taxus (yew) cells induced for Taxol production, yielded a family of related cytochrome P450 genes, one of which was assigned as a taxane 10β-hydroxylase by functional expression in yeast. The acquired clones that did not function in yeast were heterologously expressed by using the Spodoptera fugiperda-baculovirus-based system and were screened for catalytic capability by using taxa-4(20),11(12)-dien-5α-ol and its acetate ester as test substrates. This approach allowed identification of one of the cytochrome P450 clones (which bore 63% deduced sequence identity to the aforementioned taxane 10β-hydroxylase) as a taxane 13α-hydroxylase by chromatographic and spectrometric characterization of the corresponding recombinant enzyme product. The demonstration of a second relevant hydroxylase from the induced family of cytochrome P450 genes validates this strategy for elucidating the oxygenation steps of taxane diterpenoid (taxoid) metabolism. Additionally, substrate specificity studies with the available cytochrome P450 hydroxylases now indicate that there is likely more than one biosynthetic route to Taxol in yew species.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/98/24/13595.full.pdf

Robert M. Williams

Papers

Chemistry and biology of the tetrahydroisoquinoline antitumor antibiotics.

The Asymmetric Total Synthesis of (+)- and (−)-Spirotryprostatin B

Asymmetric synthesis of arylglycines

Asymmetric synthesis of monosubstituted and .alpha.,.alpha.-disubstituted .alpha.-amino acids via diastereoselective glycine enolate alkylations

Taxol biosynthesis: Taxane 13α-hydroxylase is a cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenase