PROTACs have recently emerged as a novel paradigm in drug discovery. They can hijack existing biological machinery to selectively degrade proteins of interest, in a catalytic fashion. Here we describe the design, optimisation and biological activity of a set of novel PROTACs targeting the Janus kinase family (JAK1, JAK2, JAK3 and TYK2) of proximal membrane-bound proteins. The JAK family proteins display membrane localisation by virtue of their association with cytoplasmic tails of cytokine receptors and there are no reports of a successful PROTAC strategy being deployed against this class of proteins. JAK PROTACs from two distinct JAK chemotypes were designed optimising the physicochemical properties for each template to enhance cell permeation. These PROTACs are capable of inducing JAK1 and JAK2 degradation, demonstrating an extension of the PROTAC methodology to an unprecedented class of protein targets. A number of the known ligase binders were explored, and it was found that PROTACs bearing an inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) ligand induced significantly more JAK degradation over Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) and Cereblon (CRBN) PROTACs. In addition, the mechanism of action of the JAK PROTACs was elucidated, and it was confirmed that JAK degradation was both IAP-and proteasome-dependant.

Enantiopure bromonium ions may be generated from enantiopure bromohydrins and derivatives, they can be trapped with an in situ nucleophile to give enantiomerically pure products.

Boronic acid solution speciation can be controlled during the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of haloaryl N-methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA) boronic esters to enable the formal homologation of boronic acid derivatives. The reaction is contingent upon control of the basic biphase and is thermodynamically driven: temperature control provides highly chemoselective access to either BMIDA adducts at room temperature or boronic acid pinacol ester (BPin) products at elevated temperature. Control experiments and solubility analyses have provided some insight into the mechanistic operation of the formal homologation process.

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4H-Quinolizin-4-ones are a unique class of heterocycle with valuable physicochemical properties and which are emerging as key pharmacophores for a range of biological targets. A tandem Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons olefination/cyclisation method has been developed to allow facile access to substituted 4H-quinolizin-4-ones encoded with a range of functional groups.