A Short and Improved Synthesis of the Antiprotozoal Abietane Diterpenoid (–)-Sugikurojin A

An efficient and straightforward semisynthesis of the antiprotozoal abietane diterpenoid (–)-sugikurojin A, starting from the readily available methyl ester of callitrisic acid (4-epi-dehydroabietic acid­) isolated from sandarac resin, is reported. This optimized semi­synthetic route provides a convenient source of the antiprotozoal compound, in four steps from methyl callitrisate in 50% overall yield, for further biological studies.

A new mechanism for internal nucleophilic substitution reactions

A new mechanism for the classic internal nucleophilic substitution reactions SNi by means of computational studies in the gas-phase, DCM and acetonitrile is reported. Despite the importance of the SNi mechanism, since the mid-1990s this mechanism has remained unexplored. This study focused mainly on the comparison between the mechanisms postulated to date for the SNi reactions and a new mechanism suggested by us that fits better the experimental observations. This comparative study has been applied to the conversion of ethyl, neopentyl, isopropyl and tert-butyl chlorosulfites into the corresponding alkyl chlorides. This new mechanism occurs through two transition structures. For primary and…

A theoretical study on NHC-catalysed enantioselective cycloaddition of ketenes and 3-aroylcoumarins: mechanism and enantioselectivity.

NHC-catalysed enantioselective cycloaddition of ketenes to 3-aroylcoumarins to yield dihydrocoumarin-fused dihydropyranones has been investigated using DFT methods at the B3LYP/6-31G* and MPWB1K/6-311G** computational levels. Two plausible mechanisms have been studied: the “ketene-first” mechanism A and the “coumarin-first” mechanism B. An analysis of the activation Gibbs free energies involved in the two competitive pathways makes it possible to rule out the pathway associated with the “coumarin-first” mechanism B. The first step of the “ketene-first” mechanism A is the formation of zwitterionic intermediate IN1-Zvia a nucleophilic attack of NHC 1 on ketene 2. A [4 + 2] cycloaddition throu…

Evaluación de la actividad antiherpética in vitro de moléculas híbridas de la combretastatina A4 y diterpenos

Acetylcholinesterase and antioxidant evaluation of C18-functionalized ferruginol analogues

Nearly 200 years ago, the study of the chemistry of terpenoids started with the analysis of turpentine oil, investigating the first resin acid, abietic acid from pine oleoresin.[1] Abietic acid occurs in plants of the genus Abies and is the first member of a class of plant metabolites, the abietane-type diterpenoids. They are characterized by a tricyclic ring system and have shown a wide range of chemical diversity and biological activity. [2,3] Medicinal chemists have studied derivatives of two readily available materials such as dehydroabietic acid and dehydroabietylamine. [3] To date, there is only one commercial drug, Ecabet® [ecabet sodium], based on abietanes, which is used for the tr…

Biological Profiling of Semisynthetic C19-Functionalized Ferruginol and Sugiol Analogues

[EN] The abietane-type diterpenoids are significant bioactive compounds exhibiting a varied range of pharmacological properties. In this study, the first synthesis and biological investigation of the new abietane-diterpenoid (+)-4-epi-liquiditerpenoid acid (8a) together with several of its analogs are reported. The compounds were generated from the readily available methyl callitrisate (7), which was obtained from callitrisic acid present in Moroccan Sandarac resin. A biological evaluation was conducted to determine the effects of the different functional groups present in these molecules, providing basic structure-activity relationship (SAR) elements. In particular, the ferruginol and sugi…

Synthesis of bodinieric acids A and B, both C-18 and C-19-functionalized abietane diterpenoids: DFT study of the key aldol reaction

[EN] The first synthesis of C-18- and C-19-bifunctionalized abietane diterpenoids, bodinieric (or callicapoic) acids, via an aldol reaction has been developed. This key aldol reaction was very sensitive to steric hindrance. This fact has been studied by deuterium exchange experiments and DFT methods. Optimization of this reaction led to the synthesis of anti-inflammatory bodinieric acids A and B, starting from abietic acid