Despite the enormous potential for the use of stereospecific cross-coupling reactions to rationally manipulate the three-dimensional structure of organic molecules, the factors that control the transfer of stereochemistry in these reactions remain poorly understood. Herein we report a mechanistic and synthetic investigation into the use of enantioenriched alkylboron nucleophiles in stereospecific Pd-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reactions. By developing a suite of molecular descriptors of phosphine ligands, we could apply predictive statistical models to select or design distinct ligands that respectively promoted stereoinvertive and stereoretentive cross-coupling reactions. Stereodefined branched structures were thereby accessed through the predictable manipulation of absolute stereochemistry, and a general model for the mechanism of alkylboron transmetallation was proposed.

Lysosomal degradation of glycosphingolipids is mediated by the consecutive action of several glycosidases. Malfunctioning of one of these hydrolases can lead to a lysosomal storage disorder such as Fabry disease, which is caused by a deficiency in α-galactosidase A. Herein we describe the development of potent and selective activity-based probes that target retaining α-galactosidases. The fluorescently labeled aziridine-based probes 3 and 4 inhibit the two human retaining α-galactosidases αGal A and αGal B covalently and with high affinity. Moreover, they enable the visualization of the endogenous activity of both α-galactosidases in cell extracts, thereby providing a means to study the presence and location of active enzyme levels in different cell types, such as healthy cells versus those derived from Fabry patients.

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