Α-aminoboronic Acids Research Articles

Unprecedented Activation of CO2 by α-Amino Boronic Acids.

Efficient and environmentally benign transformation of carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable chemicals is mainly obstructed by the lack of suitable catalysts. To date, various catalysts have already been investigated for the conversion of CO2 molecules, but still finding metal-free, simple, and environment-friendly catalysts is a topic of utmost interest among researchers. Thus, in this regard, the present work projects α-amino boronic acids (AABs) as a metal-free and simple catalyst for CO2 activation. The density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations have been carried out to explore the catalytic potential of AABs. The detailed electronic structure analysis of the considered AABs unveils the catalytic similarities with frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) in a gas phase. Interestingly, a peculiar catalytic action of AABs has been observed in the presence of solvents. The contrasting catalytic behavior of AABs in solvents has been extensively investigated by employing principal interacting orbital (PIO), intrinsic bond orbital (IBO), and natural bond orbital (NBO) analyses along the reaction paths. The results of the orbital studies provide concrete ground for the observed reaction mechanism. Further, the energetic analysis of the reaction of CO2 with AABs reveals that <5 kcal/mol energy is required for activation in a solvent phase, and the formed adducts are readily active. These observations show that AABs can be considered as an efficient catalyst for CO2 activation.

Nickel-catalyzed Nucleophilic C-Borylation of Imines.

Application of bioisostere plays an important role in drug discovery. α-Aminoboronic acid is the familiar bioisostere of α-amino acid. Developing reactions for the synthesis of a wide variety of α-aminoboronic acid is one important task for synthetic chemistry. Herein, we report the development of nucleophilic C-borylation chemistry for N-arylimines catalyzed by nickel. The reaction proceeds through the insertion of a borylnickel species into the C=N bond to afford the corresponding α-aminoboronate, which was isolated as acetamide after trapping with acetic anhydride. N-Benzyl imine is also tolerated by the developed reaction.

Nickel-Catalyzed 1,1-Aminoborylation of Unactivated Terminal Alkenes.

Herein, we disclose a Ni-catalyzed 1,1-difunctionalization of unactivated terminal alkenes that enables the incorporation of two different heteroatom motifs across an olefin backbone, thus streamlining the access to α-aminoboronic acid derivatives from simple precursors. The method is characterized by its simplicity and generality across a wide number of coupling counterparts.

Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Aminoboronic Acid Derivatives via Copper-Catalyzed N-Alkylation.

Due to burgeoning interest in the pharmaceutical industry in exploiting optically active α-aminoboronic derivatives as bioisosteres of α-amino acid derivatives, the discovery of methods for their catalytic asymmetric synthesis is an important challenge. Herein, we establish that a chiral copper catalyst (generated in situ from commercially available components) can achieve the enantioselective synthesis of α-aminoboronic derivatives via the coupling of two readily available partners, a carbamate and a racemic α-chloroboronate ester. Furthermore, we describe mechanistic studies that played a key role in the development of this new method and that provide insight into the optimized process.

Enantioselective synthesis of α-aminoboronates by NiH-catalysed asymmetric hydroamidation of alkenyl boronates.

Chiral α-aminoboronic acids and their derivatives are generally useful as bioactive compounds and some have been approved as therapeutic agents. Here we report a NiH-catalysed asymmetric hydroamidation process that with a simple amino alcohol ligand can easily produce a wide range of highly enantioenriched α-aminoboronates from alkenyl boronates and dioxazolones under mild conditions. The reaction is proposed to proceed by an enantioselective hydrometallation followed by an inner-sphere nitrenoid transfer and C–N bond forming sequence. The synthetic utility of this transformation was demonstrated by the efficient synthesis of a current pharmaceutical agent, Vaborbactam.

Boryl-Dictated Site-Selective Intermolecular Allylic and Propargylic C-H Amination.

For internal alkenes possessing two or more sets of electronically and sterically similar allylic protons, the site-selectivity for allylic C-H functionalization is fundamentally challenging. Previously, the negative inductive effect from an electronegative atom has been demonstrated to be effective for several inspiring regioselective C-H functionalization reactions. Yet, the use of an electropositive atom for a similar purpose remains to be developed. α-Aminoboronic acids and their derivatives have found widespread applications. Their current syntheses rely heavily on functional group manipulations. Herein we report a boryl-directed intermolecular C-H amination of allyl N-methyliminodiacetyl boronates (B(MIDA)s) and propargylic B(MIDA)s to give α-amino boronates with an exceptionally high level of site-selectivities (up to 300:1). A wide variety of highly functionalized secondary and tertiary α-amino boronates are formed in generally good to excellent yields, thanks to the mildness of the reaction conditions. The unsaturated double and triple bonds within the product leave room for further decorations. Mechanistic studies reveal that the key stabilization effect of the B(MIDA) moiety on its adjacent developing positive charge is responsible for the high site-selectivity and that a closed transition state might be involved, as the reaction is fully stereoretentive. An activation effect of B(MIDA) is also found.

Unexpected chiral vicinal tetrasubstituted diamines via borylcopper-mediated homocoupling of isatin imines.

Addressing the asymmetric synthesis of oxindole-based α-aminoboronic acids, instead of the expected products we disclosed the efficient homocoupling of oxindole-based N-tert-butanesulfinyl imines, with the generation of chiral, quaternary 1,2-diamines in a mild and completely stereoselective way. The obtained 3,3′-bisoxindole derivatives were fully characterized by NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and proved to be single diastereoisomers and atropisomers. A plausible mechanism for the one-pot Cu(II)-catalyzed Bpin addition to the isatin-derived ketimine substrate and subsequent homocoupling is described.

Boronic Acid as a Promising Class of Chemical Entity for Development of Clinical Medicine for Targeted Therapy of Cancer

The first medicine containing the boron element, bortezomib, was approved for clinical use just 18 years ago. The boronic acid substructure in bortezomib serves as an electrophilic functionality with high affinity for hydroxy groups, which are frequently found in catalytic sites of proteolytic enzymes, to create reversible covalent bonds with a slow dissociation rate. Today, boronic acid is considered an important molecule in the medicinal chemistry toolbox, which was promoted by the success of bortezomib and pioneering approaches to use boronic acid in the molecular design of serine protease inhibitors in the 1980s. In this review article, we first provide an overview of the development of bortezomib, and then summarize our achievements to construct boronic acid analogs of tyropeptin A, a naturally occurring proteasome inhibitor, with potent in vivo efficacy. Representative stereoselective synthetic methods of α-aminoboronic acid are also showcased.

An unexpected aerobic oxidation of α-amino boronic acid part of Borteomib, leading to (thermal) decomposition of this very expensive anti-cancer API

This project was started when an unknown peak was being detected in the organic volatile impurity (OVI) analysis (using the head-space vapor sampling procedure) of bortezomib (BZB) active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), in pharmaceutical companies. During the OVI analysis of the API of BZB, a huge-area peak with an unknown source appeared in the chromatograms of the gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The data prepared by GC-MAS revealed that the considered huge peak was 3-methylbutanal (3MBut). But, investigating the synthesis procedures showed that during all the synthesis steps, 3MBut or any other solvent containing this impurity was not being applied. Thus, we had concluded that there is a possibility for emergence of this aldehyde from bortezomib itself. To find out which part of bortezomib might turn into 3MBut, we began to investigate all its molecular structure, and hypothesized that the α-amino-boronic acid part of the molecule turned into 3MBut. The experimental analysis and theoretical quantum chemical calculations confirmed that the α-amino-boronic acid center of bortezomib molecule undergoes a rare and unexpected aerobic oxidation by O2 molecule, even in catalyst and solvent-free conditions. The result of this project not only might make clear the passive source of the 3MBut peak of the OVI of bortezomib, but also, it would suggest to store this API in an inert oxygen-free atmosphere to improve the long-term and accelerated (thermal) stability of this very expensive anti-cancer drug.

Primary trifluoroborate-iminiums enable facile access to chiral α-aminoboronic acids via Ru-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation and simple hydrolysis of the trifluoroborate moiety.

This work describes the first preparation and application of primary trifluoroborate-iminiums (pTIMs) as a new, easily accessible and valuable class of organoboron derivatives. An array of structurally diverse pTIMs was prepared from potassium acyltrifluoroborates in excellent yields. Highly efficient and enantioselective [(R,R)-TethTsDpen-RuCl] complex-catalyzed hydrogenation of pTIMs provided direct access to chiral primary trifluoroborate-ammoniums (pTAMs). Moreover, facile synthesis of a series of structurally diverse chiral α-aminoboronic acids from chiral pTAMs was accomplished through novel, operationally simple and efficient conversion using hexamethyldisiloxane/aqueous HCl. Using no chromatography at any point, this work allowed easy access to chiral α-aminoboronic acids, as exemplified by the synthesis of optically pure anti-cancer drugs bortezomib and ixazomib.

Tunable Synthesis of α-Amino Boronic Esters from Available Aldehydes and Amines through Sequential One-Pot Dehydration and Copper-Catalyzed Borylacylation.

Copper-catalyzed multicomponent borylacylation of imines with acid chlorides and bis(pinacolato)diboron was developed for the preparation of synthetically useful and pharmacologically relevant α-amino boronic acid derivatives. Starting from a range of acid chlorides and imines with aryl, heteroaryl, and alkyl substituents, most of these ligand-free reactions proceeded smoothly at room temperature in moderate to good yields. Furthermore, a facile and convenient one-pot, multistep access to the direct synthesis of α-amino boronic acid derivatives from available aldehydes and amines was also developed.

Asymmetric Synthesis of α-Aminoboronates via Rhodium-Catalyzed Enantioselective C(sp3)-H Borylation.

α-Aminoboronic acids, isostructural boron analogues of α-amino acids, have received much attention because of the important biomedical applications implicated for compounds containing this structure. Additionally, the inherent versatility of α-aminoboronic acids as synthetic intermediates through diverse carbon-boron bond transformations makes the efficient synthesis of these compounds highly desirable. Here, we present a Rh-monophosphite chiral catalytic system that enables a highly efficient enantioselective borylation of N-adjacent C(sp3)-H bonds for a range of substrate classes including 2-(N-alkylamino)heteroaryls and N-alkanoyl- or aroyl-based secondary or tertiary amides, some of which are pharmaceutical agents or related compounds. Various stereospecific transformations of the enantioenriched α-aminoboronates, including Suzuki-Miyaura coupling with aryl halides and the Rh-catalyzed reaction with an isocyanate derivative of α-amino acid, affording a new peptide chain elongation method, have been demonstrated. As a highlight of this work, the borylation protocol was successfully applied to the catalyst-controlled site-selective and stereoselective C(sp3)-H borylation of an unprotected dipeptidic compound, allowing remarkably streamlined synthesis of the anti-cancer drug molecule bortezomib and offering a straightforward route for the synthesis of privileged molecular architectures.

Cascade CuH-Catalysed Conversion of Alkynes to Enantioenriched 1,1-Disubstituted Products.

Enantioenriched α-aminoboronic acids play a unique role in medicinal chemistry and have emerged as privileged pharmacophores in proteasome inhibitors. Additionally, they represent synthetically useful chiral building blocks in organic synthesis. Recently, CuH-catalyzed asymmetric alkene hydrofunctionalization has become a powerful tool to construct stereogenic carbon centers. In contrast, applying CuH cascade catalysis to achieve reductive 1,1-difunctionalization of alkynes remains an important, but largely unaddressed, synthetic challenge. Herein, we report an efficient strategy to synthesize α-aminoboronates via CuH-catalyzed hydroboration/hydroamination cascade of readily available alkynes. Notably, this transformation selectively delivers the desired 1,1-heterodifunctionalized product in favor of alternative homodifunctionalized, 1,2-heterodifunctionalized, or reductively monofunctionalized byproducts, thereby offering rapid access to these privileged scaffolds with high chemo-, regio- and enantioselectivity.

The Borono-Strecker Reaction: Synthesis of α-Aminoboronates via a Multicomponent Reaction of Carbonyl Compounds, Amines, and B2pin2.

We report the first Borono-Strecker reaction, a multicomponent reaction for the synthesis of α-aminoboronic acid derivatives from readily available carbonyl compounds, amines, and B2pin2. Diverse α-aminoboronates, including aryl-substituted and tertiary examples, were synthesized in moderate to high isolated yields. Compounds were prepared bearing N-(2-pyridyl) groups, which form five-membered rings via N-B coordination, as well as systems bearing noncoordinating N-aryl groups, the latter being isolated and fully characterized for the first time.

Abstract LB-054: Discovery and profiling of M3258, a potent and selective LMP7 inhibitor demonstrating high efficacy in multiple myeloma models

Abstract Proteasomes are large multi-subunit proteolytic complexes which are key components of the ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation pathway. The constitutive proteasome is an isoform which is expressed in most tissues, where it regulates protein homeostasis. In contrast, the immunoproteasome is predominantly expressed in hematopoietic cells and can be induced in non-hematopoietic cells by inflammatory stimuli such as IFNγ. The constitutive proteasome contains the catalytically different subunits β1c, β2c and β5c, which possess caspase-like, trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like activity, respectively. These subunits are replaced in the immunoproteasome by β1i, β2i and β5i (LMP7, PSMB8) which display chymotrypsin-like, trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like activity, respectively. The enhanced proteolytic capacity of the LMP7 subunit underpins the key function of the immunoproteasome in restoring homeostasis under conditions of elevated proteolytic or oxidative stress. Furthermore, the peptides generated by LMP7 are efficiently loaded onto MHC I and as such, the immunoproteasome plays an essential role in the adaptive immune response and inflammatory diseases. The clinically approved proteasome inhibitors Bortezomib, Ixazomib, or Carfilzomib indiscriminately inhibit multiple subunits of the constitutive proteasome and immunoproteasome, including LMP7, in a comparable potency range. The therapeutic applicability of these drugs is limited by the diverse toxicities that arise as a result of the inhibition of the constitutive proteasome in healthy tissues. To reduce toxicities associated with pan-proteasome inhibition, a drug discovery program was initiated to identify selective inhibitors of the LMP7 subunit of the immunoproteasome. A hit series containing the well-established α-aminoboronic acid scaffold, which interacts covalently and reversibly with the hydroxyl group of Thr-1 in the active site of LMP7, served as starting point. Co-crystallization of series representatives in complex with the 20S core particle of the human immunoproteasome guided rational optimization of both potency and selectivity. Based on the underlying structure activity relationship differences in the P1 and P3 pockets of the proteasome subunits were exploited to gain high specificity for LMP7. Further optimization of ADME and physicochemical properties led to the discovery of M3258, a potent, orally-bioavailable inhibitor of the LMP7 subunit demonstrating &amp;gt;500-fold selectivity against β1c, β2c, β5c, β1i and β2i. M3258 displayed favorable pharmacokinetics and demonstrated strong LMP7 inhibition and anti-tumor activity in several multiple myeloma xenografts, including models that were refractory to Bortezomib. Supported by favorable preclinical data, phase I assessment of M3258 is planned in 2019. Citation Format: Markus Klein, Michael Busch, Christina Esdar, Manja Friese-Hamim, Mireille Krier, Djordje Musil, Felix Rohdich, Michael Sanderson, Gina Walter, Oliver Schadt, Ugo Zanelli, Jianguo Ma. Discovery and profiling of M3258, a potent and selective LMP7 inhibitor demonstrating high efficacy in multiple myeloma models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-054.

De Novo Design of Boron-Based Peptidomimetics as Potent Inhibitors of Human ClpP in the Presence of Human ClpX.

Boronic acids have attracted the attention of synthetic and medicinal chemists due to boron's ability to modulate enzyme function. Recently, we demonstrated that boron-containing amphoteric building blocks facilitate the discovery of bioactive aminoboronic acids. Herein, we have augmented this capability with a de novo library design and a virtual screening platform modified for covalent ligands. This technique has allowed us to rapidly design and identify a series of α-aminoboronic acids as the first inhibitors of human ClpXP, which is responsible for the degradation of misfolded proteins.

Copper-Catalyzed Electrophilic Amination of gem-Diborylalkanes with Hydroxylamines Providing α-Aminoboronic Acid Derivatives.

A copper-catalyzed electrophilic amination of gem-diborylalkanes with hydroxylamines has been developed. The key to its success is the use of the Me3Si-modified 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)benzene ligand. Additionally, the reactivity of neopentylglycol derivatives compared to that of commonly used pinacol-derived ones is found to be higher, particularly in the case of relatively sterically congested substrates. The copper catalysis presented here enables the first successful catalytic carbon-heteroatom bond forming reaction of gem-diborylalkanes to form the corresponding α-aminoboronic acid derivatives, which are of great interest in medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of curcumin derivatives modified with α-amino boronic acid as proteasome inhibitors

Curcumin is a well-known pharmacophore and some of its derivatives are shown to target 20S proteasome recently. In this report, we designed and synthesized two series of curcumin derivatives modified with different α-amino boronic acids as potent proteasome inhibitors. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against HCT116 cells, and the results showed that all of them exhibited excellent cell growth inhibitory activity comparing with curcumin, with the IC50 values varying from 0.17 μM to 1.63 μM. Compound II-2F with free boronic acid was assayed for its proteasome inhibitory activity and the results indicated that II-2F exhibited more potent inhibitory activity against ChT-L with high subunit selectivity than any other reported curcumin derivatives.

Facile synthesis of α-aminoboronic acids from amines and potassium acyltrifluoroborates (KATs) via trifluoroborate-iminiums (TIMs).

We report the facile formation of trifluoroborate-iminiums (TIMs) from potassium acyltrifluoroborates (KATs) and the transformation of TIMs to α-aminotrifluoroborates by reduction or Grignard additions. Conditions for the hydrolysis of α-aminotrifluoroborates to α-aminoboronic acids, which are important biologically active compounds, were established. This new methodology allows access to sterically demanding α-aminoboronic acids that are not easily prepared with currently available methods. This work also introduces TIMs, that can be easily prepared and handled, as a new category of functional groups that serve as precursors to valuable organic compounds.

A solid-phase approach for the synthesis of α-aminoboronic acid peptides.

A solid-phase synthesis of α-aminoboronic acid peptides using a 1-glycerol polystyrene resin is described. Standard Fmoc solid-phase peptide chemistry is carried out to construct bortezomib and ixazomib. This approach eliminates the need for liquid–liquid extractions, silica gel column chromatography, and HPLC purifications, as products are isolated in high purity after direct cleavage from the resin.