A modular approach to the total synthesis of furaquinocins culminated in the total syntheses of furaquinocin A, B, and E. A Pd-catalyzed dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation (DYKAT) on carbonates derived from Baylis-Hillman adducts, followed by a reductive Heck cyclization allows the enantio- and diastereoselective construction of dihydrobenzofuran 32. Introduction of a double unsatured side chain via Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction and assembly of the naphthoquinone with squaric acid based methodology leads to furaquinocin E. The use of differentially substituted squaric acid derivatives allows the synthesis of three analogues of furaquinocin E. The additional stereocenters in furaquinocin A and B can be introduced with a diastereoselective Sakurai allylation. The stereoselective elongation of the side chain is possible using cross metathesis or ring closing metathesis. The obtained late-stage intermediates were successfully transformed to furaquinocin A and B.

Baylis-Hillman adducts are easily accessible building blocks; the lack of asymmetric versions of the Baylis-Hillman reaction has however precluded their widespread use in asymmetric synthesis. A Pd-catalyzed DYKAT on carbonates derived from Baylis-Hillman adducts, followed by a reductive Heck reaction, allows the enantio- and diastereoselective construction of dihydrobenzofurans in a very efficient manner. These synthons represent the core structure of the furaquinocins. Introduction of different side chains and use of different squaric acid derivatives for the construction of the naphthoquinone allow the flexible synthesis of this class of natural products. This new approach is successfully applied to the synthesis of furaquinocin E and an analogue.

The emergence and evolution of new immunological cancer therapies has sparked a rapidly growing interest in discovering novel pathways to treat cancer. Toward this aim, a novel series of pyrrolidine derivatives (compound ) were identified as potent inhibitors of ERK1/2 with excellent kinase selectivity and dual mechanism of action but suffered from poor pharmacokinetics (PK). The challenge of PK was overcome by the discovery of a novel 3()-thiomethyl pyrrolidine analog . Lead optimization through focused structure-activity relationship led to the discovery of a clinical candidate suitable for twice daily oral dosing as a potential new cancer therapeutic.

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An asymmetric synthesis of the oxetane-containing norbornanone 23 and its coupling to trans-1-propenyllithium to give 24 are reported, in tandem with the preparation of the related alcohols 28 and 30. All three divinyl carbinols undergo anionic oxy-Cope rearrangement very rapidly at low temperature. Quenching of 24 -K + and 28 -K + under these conditions with water or various aqueous salt solutions results in protonation of the alkoxides. If these reaction mixtures are poured instead onto cold (0°C) silica gel, their sigmatropically related ketones are isolated in very good yield. Whereas the 24 -K + a 25 -K + equilibrium pair is not reactive to molecular oxygen, 30 -K + is directly converted into an R-hydroperoxy ketone under comparable conditions. These and additional observations are rationalized in the context of atropisomerism involving conversion of oxygen-up enolates, formed reversibly under kinetically controlled conditions, into their thermodynamically favored, more reactive oxygen-down conformers.