This thesis deals with method development in asymmetric catalysis and specifically syntheses of enantioenriched O-functionalized cyanohydrins. The first part describes the development of a method for the synthesis of O‑alkoxycarbonylated and O-acylated cyanohydrins. Ethyl cyanoformate and acyl cyanides were added to aldehydes in a reaction catalyzed by a chiral dimeric Ti-salen complex together with a tertiary amine. High yields and enantioselectivities were in most cases obtained. Mechanistic studies were performed and a reaction mechanism was proposed. ­ The second part describes a method in which the undesired minor enantiomer in a Lewis acid–Lewis base-catalyzed acylcyanation is continuously recycled into prochiral starting material. Close to enantiopure O‑acylated cyanohydrins were obtained in high yields. The third part deals with asymmetric acylcyanations of ketones. Acetyl cyanide was found to add to α‑ketoesters in a reaction catalyzed by a chiral Lewis base. Yields up to 77% and 82% ee were obtained. The final part describes an enzymatic method for high-throughput analysis of O‑acylated cyanohydrins. The enantiomeric excess and conversion were determined for products obtained from a number of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes. / QC 20100818

The chiral vicinal diamine moiety is “privileged” and is widely found in catalysts and bio-active compounds. A series of seven chiral vicinal diamines with heterocyclic substituents have been synthesized with great enantiospecificity via the resonance assisted hydrogen bond driven diaza-Cope rearrangement reaction using 1,2-bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)-1,2-diaminoethane and heterocyclic aldehydes as starting materials. This thesis will also discuss the development of a new guanidine-based chiral shift rea-gent for determining the enantiopurity and the absolute configuration of α-amino acids by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. The chiral shift reagent is easily synthesized from the commercially-available 1,2-diphenyl-1,2-diaminoethane. This method is advantageous over many previously described procedures for determining amino acid enantiopurity as it does not require prior derivatization of the analyte.

The chiral vicinal diamine moiety is “privileged” and is widely found in catalysts and bio-active compounds. A series of seven chiral vicinal diamines with heterocyclic substituents have been synthesized with great enantiospecificity via the resonance assisted hydrogen bond driven diaza-Cope rearrangement reaction using 1,2-bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)-1,2-diaminoethane and heterocyclic aldehydes as starting materials. This thesis will also discuss the development of a new guanidine-based chiral shift rea-gent for determining the enantiopurity and the absolute configuration of α-amino acids by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. The chiral shift reagent is easily synthesized from the commercially-available 1,2-diphenyl-1,2-diaminoethane. This method is advantageous over many previously described procedures for determining amino acid enantiopurity as it does not require prior derivatization of the analyte.

Fragment-based drug discovery is an emerging process that has gained popularity in recent years. The process starts from small molecules called fragments. One major step in fragment-based drug discovery is fragment screening, which is a strategy to screen libraries of small molecules to find hits. The strategy in theory is more efficient than traditional high-throughput screening that works with larger molecules. As fragments intrinsically possess weak affinity to a target, detection techniques of high sensitivity to affinity are required for fragment screening. Furthermore, the use of different screening methods is necessary to improve the likelihood of success in finding suitable fragments. Since no single method can work for all types of screening, there is a demand for new techniques. The aim of this thesis is to introduce weak affinity chromatography (WAC) as a novel technique for fragment screening. WAC is, as the name suggests, an affinity-based liquid chromatographic technique that separates compounds based on their different weak affinities to an immobilized target. The higher affinity a compound has towards the target, the longer it remains in the separation unit, and this will be expressed as a longer retention time. The affinity measure and ranking of affinity can be achieved by processing the obtained retention times of analyzed compounds. In this thesis, WAC is studied for fragment screening on two platforms. The first system comprised a 24-channel affinity cartridge that works in cooperation with an eight-needle autosampler and 24 parallel UV detector units. The second system was a standard analytical LC-MS platform that is connected to an affinity column, generally called WAC-MS or affinity LC-MS. The evaluation criteria in studying WAC for fragment screening using these platforms were throughput, affinity determination and ranking, specificity, operational platform characteristics and consumption of target protein and sample. The model target proteins were bovine serum albumin for the first platform, thrombin and trypsin for the latter. Screened fragments were either small molecule drugs, a thrombin-directed collection of compounds, or a general-purpose fragment library. To evaluate WAC for early stages of fragment elaboration, diastereomeric mixtures from a thrombin-directed synthesis project were screened. Although both analytical platforms can be used for fragment screening, WAC-MS shows more useful features due to easy access to the screening platform, higher throughput and ability to analyze mixtures. Affinity data from WAC are in good correlation with IC50 values from enzyme assay experiments. The possibility to distinguish specific from non- specific interactions plays an important role in the interpretation of WAC results. In this thesis, this was achieved by inhibiting the active site of the target protein to measure off-site interactions. WAC proves to be a sensitive, robust, moderate in cost and easy to access technique for fragment screening, and can also be useful in the early stages of fragment evolution. In conclusion, this thesis has demonstrated the proof of principle of using WAC as a new tool to monitor affinity and to select hits in fragment-based drug discovery. This thesis has indicated the primary possibilities, advantages as well as the limitations of WAC in fragment screening procedures.  In the future, WAC should be evaluated on other targets and fragment libraries in order to realize more fully the potential of the technology.

Two novel, single-isomer, sulfated cyclodextrins, the sodium salts of heptakis(2- O-methyl-3-O-acetyl-6-O-sulfo)cyclomaltoheptaose (HMAS) and heptakis(2-O-methyl- 6-O-sulfo)cyclomaltoheptaose (HMS) were used as chiral resolving agents in both aqueous and non-aqueous electrophoretic separation of a set of pharmaceutically active weak base enantiomers. Enantiomers of twenty one of the twenty four weak bases were baseline resolved in one or more of the background electrolytes (BGE’s) used. An eight-step synthetic method was used to produce, on a large scale, the title compounds in greater than 97% purity. The purity of the synthetic intermediates and the final products were characterized by HPLC-ELSD and indirect UV-detection capillary electrophoresis (CE), respectively. X-ray crystallography, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and 1H as well as 13C NMR spectroscopy allowed for unambiguous characterization of the structure of each intermediate and the final product.

Le peptide hCAP18/LL-37, une partie de la défense immunitaire innée, a maintenant été reconnu comme multifonctionnelle pour les cellules eucaryotes. Nos études démontrent sa contribution au développement du cancer, montrant qu'il est surexprimé dans la plupart des tumeurs mammaires humaines, active la signalisation la famille de ERBB et augmente le potentiel métastatique des cellules cancéreuses du sein. Notre comparaison des deux lignées du cancer du sein n'a pas révélé de récepteurs communs, mais une structure peptidique identiques mais de chiralité différente est pré requis pour le peptide dans toutes ses activités. Nous émettons l'hypothèse que LL-37 active indirectement des récepteurs transmembranaires en se liant à la membrane cellulaire. Des peptides tronqués dérivés de LL-37 inhibent ses activités et peuvent aider à concevoir une future thérapie anticancéreuse. / The peptide hCAP18/LL-37, part of the innate immune defense, has now been recognized as multifunctional for eukaryotic cells. Our studies demonstrate its contribution to cancer development, showing that it is overexpressed in most human breast tumors, activates ERBB signaling and increases the metastatic potential of breast cancer cells. Our comparison on two breast cancer lines did not reveal any common receptors but identical structural prerequisites for the peptide in all its activities. We hypothesize that LL-37 indirectly activates transmembrane receptors by attaching to the cellular membrane. Truncated derivatives inhibit its activities and may help to design a future anticancer therapy.

Yes / The single enantiomer (1S,2S)-2-benzyl-2,3-dihydro-2-(1H-inden-2-yl)-1H-inden-1-ol (2), has recently been synthesized and isolated from its corresponding diastereoisomer (1). The molecular and crystal structures of this novel compound have been fully analyzed. The relative and absolute configurations have been determined by using a combination of analytical tools including X-ray crystallography, X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) analysis and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. / Wellcome Trust

<p>In this thesis, porous graphitic carbon (PGC) has been used as packing material in packed capillary liquid chromatography. The unique chromatographic properties of PGC has been studied in some detail and applied to different analytical challenges using both electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and ultra violet (UV) absorbance detection. </p><p>The crucial importance of disengaging the conductive PGC chromatographic separation media from the high voltage mass spectrometric interface has been shown. In the absence of a grounded point between the column and ESI emitter, a current through the column was present, and changed retention behaviors for 3-O-methyl-DOPA and tyrosine were observed. An alteration of the chromatographic properties was also seen when PGC was chemically oxidized with permanganate, possibly due to an oxidation of the few surface groups present on the PGC material. </p><p>The dynamic adsorption of the chiral selector lasalocid onto the PGC support resulted in a useful and stable chiral stationary phase. Extraordinary enantioselectivity was observed for 1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine, and enantioseparation was also achieved for other amines, amino acids, acids and alcohols. </p><p>Finally, a new strategy for separation of small biologically active compounds in plasma and brain tissue has been developed. With PGC as stationary phase it was possible to utilize a mobile phase of high content of organic modifier, without the addition of ion-pairing agents, and still selectively separate the analytes. </p>

In this thesis, porous graphitic carbon (PGC) has been used as packing material in packed capillary liquid chromatography. The unique chromatographic properties of PGC has been studied in some detail and applied to different analytical challenges using both electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and ultra violet (UV) absorbance detection. The crucial importance of disengaging the conductive PGC chromatographic separation media from the high voltage mass spectrometric interface has been shown. In the absence of a grounded point between the column and ESI emitter, a current through the column was present, and changed retention behaviors for 3-O-methyl-DOPA and tyrosine were observed. An alteration of the chromatographic properties was also seen when PGC was chemically oxidized with permanganate, possibly due to an oxidation of the few surface groups present on the PGC material. The dynamic adsorption of the chiral selector lasalocid onto the PGC support resulted in a useful and stable chiral stationary phase. Extraordinary enantioselectivity was observed for 1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine, and enantioseparation was also achieved for other amines, amino acids, acids and alcohols. Finally, a new strategy for separation of small biologically active compounds in plasma and brain tissue has been developed. With PGC as stationary phase it was possible to utilize a mobile phase of high content of organic modifier, without the addition of ion-pairing agents, and still selectively separate the analytes.

Plusieurs molécules nouvelles ont été obtenues à partir du Gossypol, extrait des graines de cotonnier. Dans la première partie, de nouvelles bases de Schiff du gossypol et de la gossypolone ont été synthétisées, les énantiomères du gossypol et leurs bases de Schiff sont optiquement stables, tandis que, les énantiomères de la gossypolone ne sont pas stables à température ambiante, mais il est possible de les observer vers 0°C. La cytotoxicité de ces bases de Schiff a été évaluée principalement sur des cellules KB, la méthylimine et l'éthylimine de la gossypolone sont les plus toxiques (IC50= 0.8 et 1.2 µM). La toxicité du gossypol et de la gossypolone augmente quand les tests sont effectués en absence de sérum et elle diminue en présence de catalase ou de mannitol dans le milieu de culture. L'énantiomère (-)-gossypol est plus toxique que le (+)-gossypol, ceci est aussi valable pour les bases de Schiff des énantiomères du gossypol. Dans la deuxième partie, une nouvelle classe de dérivés du gossypol et de la gossypolone, les dithianes et les dithiolanes, a été développée. Les dithianes/dithiolanes du gossypol et de la gossypolone ont été synthétisés par action de dithiols en présence d'éthérate de trifluoroborate. La même réaction effectuée avec les monothiols, conduit à des mélanges complexes. L'action du propanedithiol ou de l'ethanedithiol sur le tetraméthyle ou l'hexaméthyle éthers du gossypol ne conduit pas aux dithianes ou dithiolanes attendus mais à de nouveaux dérivés cycliques. La toxicité de ces nouveaux thio-dérivés sur les cellules KB est assez modeste, mais sous l'action de NO ou d'un sel de nitrosonium, ces dérivés se transforment en dérivés plus toxiques dans le cas du gossypol ou régénèrent la molécule de départ dans le cas de la gossypolone. Nous formulons l'hypothèse que dithianes et dithiolanes du gossypol et de la gossypolone pourraient être des modèles de prodrogues ciblées sur les cellules exprimant de fortes concentrations d'oxyde nitrique.