Heterocycles that contain nitrogen, such as piperidine, pyrrolidine and tropane, are widespread as natural product alkaloids and serve as templates for many bioactive drugs and drug candidates. The intent of this research is to the develop asymmetric syntheses of piperidine-containing syn and anti 1,3-amino alcohols as well as tropinone and tropane-containing derivatives using sulfinimines (N-sulfinyl imines) as precursors for acid-catalyzed cascade cyclizations. Chiral N-sulfinyl b-amino ketones derived from N-sulfinyl b-amino Weinreb amides, serve as novel and direct precursors to syn and anti N-sulfinyl 1,3-amino alcohols through stereoselective reductions. General reduction conditions have been developed for a variety of substrates. This methodology was applied to a concise formal synthesis of the piperidine-containing natural product, (-)-pinidinol, through an intramolecular cascade-cyclization of a masked-oxo N-sulfinyl 1,3-amino alcohol. Special conditions were found for the syn reduction of these substrates. Tropinones and tropanes are structural motifs which encompass many interesting bioactive natural products such as cocaine and scopolamine. The synthesis of these tropinone derivatives, using an asymmetric and intramolecular cascade reaction, allows for facile functionalization of one of the bridgehead carbons. This opens doors to novel derivatives of (-)-cocaine which can be used as potential addiction therapeutics or in new SAR studies of dopamine reuptake transporter blockers. Here a five-membered cyclic imine can be formed through the acid-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of acyclic ketal-protected N-sulfinyl ketones. After reaction with an acylating agent, the tropinone nucleus can be formed through an intramolecular Mannich reaction of an N-acyl iminium ion. / Chemistry

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death due to a single infectious agent with more than 1.5 million people killed each year. In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that one third of the world’s population was infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the pathogen responsible for the disease.In 2000, EthR, a mycobacterial transcriptional repressor, was identified as a key modulator of ethionamide (ETH) bioactivation. ETH is one of the main second-line drugs used to treat drug-resistant strains and it is a prodrug that is activated in Mtb by the mono-oxygenase EthA and then inhibits InhA, an enzyme involved in the mycolic acid biosynthesis. In 2009, it was demonstrated that co-administration of ETH with the drug-like inhibitors of EthR was able to boost ETH activity by a factor three in a mouse-model of TB-infection, thus validating EthR protein as a target for a new therapeutic strategy. The first part of this thesis deals with the validation and deep characterization of the solved EthR-ligand structures based on all analysis of how each ligand bind to the EthR. In this section, based on the study of both co-crystal structures and the physicochemical properties of the ligands, we have rationalized the information currently available and understood the interaction of all EthR inhibitors in order to lead to more effective inhibitor design.More recently, another mycobaterial repressor, denoted EthR2, was identified as a putative target that appears to be functionally comparable to EthR (then the locus has been termed EthA2/EthR2, due to its similarity to the EthA/EthR locus). Furthermore, a spiroisoxazoline family of small-molecules, generically denoted as SMARt, has been identified as effective ligand of EthR2. However, according to the data present in the literature, this spiroisoxazoline family can also bind to the former EthR. In order to investigate this proposition, I have solved these small molecules in complex with EthR and compared their binding interactions to the EthR2 protein as well. The opportunity for the design small-molecules is capable of targeting both repressors, thereby opening the way to a dual-target approach.Finally, the third part of this thesis is devoted to the mycobacterial transcriptional factor MabR (Rv2242). Several studies identified this protein as a regulatory transcription factor of the fatty acid synthase II operon, which is mainly responsible for the mycolic acid biosynthesis in Mtb. I therefore purified to homogeneity and characterized the MabR protein as well as I determined the crystal structure of its C-terminal part. Finally, the functional role of MabR is largely discussed, and the way on how to interfere with its DNA binding ability is commented with respect to our results. / Doctorat en Sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques (Pharmacie) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Enantiopure α-alkyl-substituted aldehydes are widely recognised as important building blocks in synthesis. Despite this, methods to prepare such substrates are limited. Strategically, asymmetric intermolecular S_N2 α-alkylation represents a highly straightforward transformation, but still remains an elusive feat. This thesis describes efforts to address this challenge, with attempted access to enantioenriched α-alkyl aldehydes by way of C-alkylation of chiral, non-racemic, hindered aldenamines using simple alkyl halides. Enamines derived from four types of auxiliary (a tropane, an oxazolidine, a pyrrolidine and a homotropane) have been prepared, and their alkylation profile examined. While the desired levels of asymmetric induction were not attained, use of the tropane and homotropane auxiliaries, which differ only by a single methylene group, interestingly, gave complimentary diastereocontrol during alkylation with EtI. The observed stereoselectivity is supported by density functional studies performed for ethylation of both enamines. Additionally, in the course of preparing the homotropane a highly efficient asymmetric synthesis of a homotropinone bearing gem-α-substitution has been developed.