SYNTHETIC ORGANIC CHEMISTRY ADVANCES

Abstract

PROGRESS ON SEVERAL FRONTS OF synthetic chemistry was apparent from the presentations at Division of Organic Chemistry symposia during the American Chemical Society's national meeting in Chicago late last month. For example, new multicomponent reactions promise easier approaches to syntheses of combinatorial libraries. In addition, advances in enantioselective reactions offer paths to compounds with enhanced biological activity. And new techniques and transformations advance the field generally. Perhaps the exemplar of multicomponent reactions is the Ugi reaction, in which an amine, an aldehyde, a carboxylic acid, and an isonitrile (R-N=C) react to form an N-substituted amide of an N-acylated α-amino acid. The advantage of the Ugi is that varying the substituents on the four components lets chemists assemble many combinations quickly. But the products have acyclic peptidelike structures, while medicinal chemists want structural motifs that are more druglike. Indeed, senior research scientist Ingo Muegge...