The main subject of this thesis is synthesis of chiral diene systems via Ring Closing Enyne Metathesis (RCEM). Furan and thiophene carbaldehydes were chosen as starting compounds. As a result of allylation and propargylation reaction of these aldehydes targeting racemic heteroaryl substituted homoallylic and homopropargylic alcohols were synthesized. Enantiomerically enriched alcohols were obtained by enzymatic resolution method with different enzymes (PS-II, Lipozyme) with the high enantiomeric excess values. Absolute configurations of all alcohols are known. O-allylation and O-propargylation reactions of enantiomerically pure alcohols, afforded feasible enyne units for RCEM were synthesized successfully. All RCEM reactions were performed by using Grubbs&amp / #8223 / 1st generation catalyst. The absolute configuration of all chiral diene systems were known since during the course of the all reactions, configurations were preserved. As a last step, Diels-Alder reactions were applied to some of these chiral diene systems to get bicyclic compounds and comment on the stereoselectivity. Only one diastereomeric cycloadduct was observed as a result of Diels-Alder applications.

The major subject of this thesis is the synthesis of enantiomerically enriched gamma and delta lactones via Ring Closing Metathesis (RCM). Furan and thiophene substituted aldehydes were transformed to the corresponding heteroaryl substituted allylic and homoallylic alcohols by using vinyl and allylmagnesium bromide, respectively and then resultant racemic alcohols were resolved by hydrolase type enzymes (PSC-II, Lipozyme, CAL-B) with high enantiomeric excess values. Since the absolute configuration of alcohols were known, it was possible to determine the configuration of the synthesized compounds. After the enantiomeric enrichment of the alcohols, subsequent acylation with acryloyl and methacryloyl chloride afforded feasible diene system that was subjected to ring closing metathesis reaction 1st and 2nd generation Grubbs&rsquo / catalysts were used. These lactones were used to test their biological activities.

<p>I den här avhandlingen har vi studerat hur man kan göra nya tensider. En tensid är en speciell molekyl som har förmågan att lösa sig i både vatten och olja.</p><p>Man kan göra följande experiment hemma: Fyll en glasburk till hälften med vatten och tillsätt en droppe matolja. Oljan bildar en droppe ovanpå vattnet, därför att vatten och olja inte är blandbara. Vatten är polärt och olja är opolärt. Om man rör om med en sked kommer oljedroppen förvisso att dela upp sig i mindre droppar, men så snart man slutar att röra kommer dessa att lägga sig på vattenytan igen. Sätt nu en droppe diskmedel till blandningen och rör om. Nu sprider sig oljedropparna mycket bättre i vattnet, och de lägger sig heller inte på vattenytan lika fort när man slutar att röra. Det här beror på att diskmedel innehåller en tensid, som har en polär och en opolär del. Den polära delen passar ihop med det polära vattnet, medan den opolära delen passar ihop med den opolära oljan. På så vis kan tensiden hjälpa till att lösa upp opolära ämnen i polära vätskor.</p><p>Den aktiva delen av ett läkemedel består ofta av opolära ämnen, vilka inte löser sig i polära vätskor såsom vatten. Eftersom kroppen består till stor del av vatten måste man ändå försöka få läkemedlet vattenlösligt, för att möjliggöra transport via blodet till problemområdet. Det kan man uppnå genom att tillsätta tensider. Om läkemedel-tensidblandningen ska ges till djur eller människor får inte tensiden orsaka någon skada i kroppen.</p><p>Vi har försökt framställa tensider som ska kunna användas för att just lösa läkemedel i vatten. För att kunna framställa nya tensider måste man ha kunskap i organisk syntes. Det betyder att man måste veta hur man från små intermediat (”byggstenar”) successivt kan bygga upp nya molekyler som har de önskvärda egenskaperna. Genom olika typer av organisk syntes har vi byggt upp tre nya tensidtyper, vars egenskaper vi studerat med olika mätningar. Ingen av dessa tensider lämpade sig som tillsats till läkemedel, men vårt arbete har givit mycket ny kunskap om hur framtida tensidmolkyler kan tillverkas och vilka egenskaper de får.</p> / <p>This thesis deals with the synthesis and characterization of new polyhydroxy surfactants. The first part describes the synthesis of three new surfactant classes, and the second part concerns the surface chemical characterization of the synthesized surfactants.</p><p>A stereodivergent route for preparation of hydrophilic head groups was developed, that featured consecutive stereoselective dihydroxylations of a diene. This method provided in total four different polyhydroxylated head groups. These surfactant head groups were natural and unnatural sugar analogues, and were used for the coupling with two different hydrophobic tail groups.</p><p>Another approach took advantage of a metathesis reaction and provided a polyhydroxylated compound that was coupled to 12-hydroxy stearic acid</p><p>The third class of surfactants contained an amide linkage between the hydrophilic and the hydrophobic parts. The hydrophilic part consisted of two glucose units, and 12-hydroxy stearic acid was used as the hydrophobic part. The hydroxy moiety in the tail group was further functionalized as aliphatic esters, which provided in total four different surfactants.</p><p>A selection of the surfactants was used to investigate the chiral discrimination in Langmuir monolayers at an air-water interface. The isotherms showed a remarkable difference in compressibility between diastereomeric surfactants and also a pronounced chiral discrimination between racemic and enantiomerically pure surfactants, favoring heterochiral discrimination. The monolayers were also investigated with Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD). It was not possible to observe any chirality dependent features from the BAM images, but the GIXD measurement supported the conclusion that heterochiral discrimination governed the intermolecular forces within the racemic monolayer.</p><p>The third class of surfactants, containing an amide linkage between the glucose units and 12-hydroxy stearic acid was evaluated with respect to the CMC and the haemolytic activity. These surfactants were all haemolytic close to their respective CMC.</p>

Cavitands are very important class of compounds in supramolecular chemistry. These molecules contain rigid enforced cavity,and have attracted considerable attention in supramolecular chemistry as building blocks for the construction of carcerands, hemicarcerands, and other host guests complexes. Nearly 40 years ago, Niederl and Vogel laid foundation for the study of such type of condensation reactions. In our laboratory we are involved in synthesis of resorcinarenes with readily available substrates such as resorcinol and aldehydes to form a cyclic tetramer. Herein, I present detailed studies about the functionalization of the synthesized tetramers and their antimicrobial activity. Octahydroxy resorcinarenes were synthesized and perallylated which served as acyclic diene precursors for ring closing metathesis reaction. Studies were carried out to see effect of C-2 substituent of resorcinol and effect of aryl substituents, and aliphatic substituents on ring closing metathesis. This thesis describes the synthesis of bridged resorcinarenes and study of antimicrobial activity of resorcinarenes.

A novel application of the Moore rearrangement was successfully developed and applied to the synthesis of 1,4-dioxygenated xanthones that would have been difficult to obtain otherwise. The 1,4-dioxygenated xanthone moiety is found in several naturally occurring, biologically active compounds. Several methods by which to obtain the 1,4-dioxygenated xanthone core have been reported; however, high step counts, low yields, and harsh reaction conditions preclude the use of these methods to complex xanthone natural products. Using the Moore rearrangement as a key step in the synthetic sequence has allowed us to prepare several xanthone natural products quickly and more efficiently than what is possible with the prior art. Using the Martin group’s prior experience with the application of ring closing metathesis (RCM) to the field of alkaloid natural product synthesis, the preparation of lundurine B was undertaken. Key features of the proposed synthesis to lundurine B include the formation of a cyclopropane ring by the formation pyrazoline intermediate via [3+2] dipolar cycloaddition followed by dinitrogen extrusion. A second key step in the proposed sequence to lundurine B is a double RCM to form a five- and eight-membered ring in a single operation. While double RCM strategies have been applied to several elegant natural product syntheses, the formation of a five- and eight-membered ring in a single sequence has not been reported. Should the double RCM strategy prove successful for lundurine B, the conditions could in principle be applied to other structurally related natural products. / text

Intramolecular ring closing metathesis in the presence of Grubbs' catalyst has been used as an efficient approach to synthesize bridged resorcinarenes. Octaallyl cavitands may undergo conformational changes; however bridge formation by RCM of the allyl groups gives a rigid, enforced, concave cavity capable of holding neutral molecules. This is the first report describing tandem formation of the four bridges on the upper rim of resorcinarenes. Structures of bridged resorcinarenes are confirmed by spectral analysis data.This report also describes the synthesis of polyhydroxy resorcinarenes, which have been used as metal complexing agents, sensors, receptors, molecular reaction vessels and catalytic chambers. They are able to encapsulate small neutral molecules, drug molecules inside the cavity. Such cavitands offer unique molecular platforms for host--guest chemistries, as well as new polymers and self-assembled systems.

In efforts to search for tool compounds that are capable of probing normal and disease-associated biological processes, both quality and identity of the screening collection are very important. Towards this goal, diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) has been explored for a decade, which aims to populate the chemical space with diverse sets of small molecules distinct from the traditional ones obtained via combinatorial chemistry. In the practice of DOS, macrocyclic ring-closing metathesis (RCM) reactions have been widely used. However, the prediction and control of stereoselectivity of the reaction is often challenging; chemical transformation of the olefin moiety within the product is in general limited. Chapter I of this thesis describes a methodology that addresses both problems simultaneously and thus extends the utility of the RCM reactions. By installing a silyl group at the internal position of one of the olefin termini, the RCM reaction could proceed with high stereoselectivity to afford the (E)-alkenylsiloxane regardless of the intrinsic selectivity of the substrate. The resulting alkenylsiloxane can be transformed to a variety of functionalities in a regiospecific fashion. The conversion of the (E)-alkenylsiloxanes to alkenyl bromides could proceed with inversion of stereochemistry for some substrates allowing the selective access of both the E- and Z-trisubstituted macrocyclic alkenes. It was also found that the silyl group could trap the desired mono-cyclized product by suppressing nonproductive pathways. Chapter II of this thesis describes the application of the concept of DOS in the area of fragment-based drug discovery. Most fragment libraries used to date have been limited to aromatic heterocycles with an underrepresentation of chiral, enantiopure, \(sp^3\)-rich compounds. In order to create a more diverse fragment collection, the build/couple/pair algorithm was adopted. Starting from proline derivatives, a series of bicyclic compounds were obtained with complete sets of stereoisomers and high \(sp^3\) ratio. Efforts are also described toward the generation of diverse fragments using methodology described in Chapter I. The glycogen synthase kinase \((GSK3\beta)\) was selected as the proof-of-concept target for screening the DOS fragments. / Chemistry and Chemical Biology

With the ever expanding utility of transition metal catalysis, there has been a thrust both to develop catalysts with unique selectivites or activites, and to understand the factors which govern these characteristics at both a fundamental and practical level. Olefin metathesis has become an essential reaction for the synthesis of small molecules in addition to polymeric materials. We have pursued two distinct ligand classes based on diaminocarbenes with novel architectures to address specific limitations within this useful class of reactions: 1) limited access to polymeric materials with controlled microstructures and 2) poor stereoselectivity in Ru-catalyzed cross-metathesis (CM) reactions. Numerous phosphines and N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been used as ligands for Ru metathesis catalysts, and the resulting activity is very sensitive to their steric and electronic nature. We envisioned that we could take advantage of this dependence by developing a catalyst with tunable ligand donicity. Redox-switchable ligands can lead to catalysts whose selectivity and/or activity are dependent upon the ligand oxidation state. Towards this purpose, we have developed a ligand which incorporates a 1,1’-disubstituted ferrocene moiety into the backbone of a diaminocarbene (FcDAC). Upon ligation of FcDAC to various transition metals, we were able to use cyclic voltammetry and a spectroelectrochemical FT-IR experiment to show electronic communication between FcDAC and the coordinated metal. We then pursued Ru metathesis catalysts incorporating these ligands. The ring-opening metathesis polymerization of 1,5-cyclooctadiene was studied using [(FcDAC)(PPh₃)Cl₂Ru=(3-phenylindenylid-2-ene)] as the catalyst. Chemical redox reactions were used to establish the ability of FcDAC to impart redox-tunable properties to Ru metathesis catalysts. A new ligand class pioneered in our group, N-aryl,N-alkyl acyclic diaminocarbenes (ADCs), was also studied in various Ru metathesis catalysts. To our delight, these catalysts showed lower E : Z ratios than analogous NHC ligands in two representative CM reactions. We also investigated the conformational diversity of these differentially substituted ADCs given their ability to rotate about their C–N bonds, in particular, to determine how this might influence their donicity. Complexes of the type [(ADC)Ir(COD)Cl] and [(ADC)Ir(CO)₂Cl] were studied, given the wealth of structural and spectral data available for analogous compounds incorporating related ligand classes. Different conformations resulted depending on the N-substituents and the nature of the metal complex. Interestingly, the electron donating ability of ADC ligands was found to depend on their conformation, as evidenced by FT-IR and cyclic voltammetry. This established a new avenue for tuning the donor properties of differentially substituted ADC ligands. The unique properties of these novel ligand classes were demonstrated in Ru metathesis catalysts. However, on a broader level, these ligands are expected to have utility in diverse catalytic applications. / text

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Metathesis is a valuable reaction for the production of new alkenes. In the last 50 years, heterogeneous as well as homogeneous catalysts have been used for this reaction. In the homogeneous category are the very successful catalysts designed by the Grubbs group. The first generation Grubbs precatalyst (Gr1) bearing two phosphine ligands was followed after extensive studies by the more active second generation Grubbs precatalyst (Gr2). In Gr2, one of the phosphine ligands is replaced with an N-heterocyclic carbene. Grubbs type precatalysts bearing pyridynyl-alcoholato chelating ligands are pertinent to this study. Scheme 1: The synthesis of Grubbs type precatalysts bearing a pyridynyl-alcoholato ligand. In two previous studies, both supported by computational methods, Grubbs type precatalysts with N^O chelating ligands were synthesised. These investigations were motivated by the fact that chelating ligands bearing different donor atoms can display hemilability. The loosely bound donor atom can de-coordinate to make available a coordination site to an incoming substrate “on demand”, whilst occupying the site otherwise and hence preventing decomposition via open coordination sites. In the first investigation, the incorporation of an O,N-ligand with both R1 and R2 being phenyl groups into the Gr2 precatalyst, resulted in an increase in activity, selectivity and lifetime of the precatalyst in comparison to Gr2 in the metathesis reaction with 1- octene. In the second study, three synthesised complexes were found to be active for the metathesis of 1-octene. This computational study sought to better understand the structural differences and thermodynamic properties of these Grubbs type precatalysts with bidentate/hemilabile ligands. A large number of structures were constructed in Materials Studio by varying the R groups of the bidentate/hemilabile ligand attached to both the Gr1 and Gr2 catalysts. The majority of structures were Gr1-type complexes. For each ligand selected, a group of structures consisting of closed precatalyst, open precatalyst, and where applicable a precatalyst less PCy3, closed metallacycle, open metallacycle and where applicable a metallacycle less PCy3, was constructed and optimised using DMol3. Bond lengths, bond angles, HOMO and LUMO energies and Hirshveld charges of structures were compared with one another. PES scans were performed on the metallacycles of four groups. The purpose of the PES scans was to ascertain whether these bidentate ligands were hemilabile and to illuminate the preferred reaction mechanism for these types of precatalysts. The major finding of this study was that the possibility of an associative mechanism cannot be ruled out for some Gr2-type precatalysts with bidentate ligand. For some precatalysts hemilability is energetically expensive and possibly not viable. No evidence of a concerted mechanism was found. The dissociative mechanism was found to be the preferred mechanism for most of the structures that were subjected to PES scans. The HOMO-LUMO energies of a complex can be used, as a predictive tool, to assess the reactivity and stability of a complex, as well as its preference for substrates. / Thesis (MSc (Chemistry))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.