Oxidation of several thiol derivatives by a combination of N-chlorosuccinimide and dilute hydrochloric acid proceeded smoothly, affording the corresponding sulfonyl chlorides in good yield.

Determination of the stereochemistry and the total synthesis of altemaric acid 1 has been achieved. The stereostructure of 1 has been elucidated by stereoselective synthesis of four diastereoisomers of the C(9)-C(14) fragment 6, which had been obtained as a degradation product during structural studies. Key reactions of the total synthesis of 1 include the Julia olefination of tertiary aldehyde 6 and phenylsulfone 7 and novel one-pot construction of 3-acyl-4-hydroxy-5,6-dihydro-2-pyrone via Fries-type rearrangement of the O-enol acyl group of /3-keto-ó-valerolactone toward the a-position of the ó-lactone. The absolute configuration of altemaric acid has been shown to be that illustrated in structure 1. The modified Fries-type rearrangement method has also been extended to the synthesis of some other compounds containing a tricarbonylmethane structure.

A series of 2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranamines (5-aminocoumarans) were developed for the treatment of traumatic and ischemic central nervous system (CNS) injury. Compounds within this class were extremely effective inhibitors of lipid peroxidation in vitro and antagonized excitatory behavior coupled with peroxidative injury induced by spinal intrathecal injection of FeCl2 (mouse-FeCl2-it assay) in vivo. Selected compounds were tested for antagonistic activity on methamphetamine (MAP)-induced hypermotility resulting from dopamine release in the mouse brain. Among the compounds synthesized, compound 26n (2,3-dihydro-2,4,6,7-tetramethyl-2-[(4-phenyl-1-piperidinyl) methyl]-5-benzofuranamine) exhibited potent effects in these assays (inhibition of lipid peroxidation, IC50 = 0.07 microM; mouse-FeCl2-it assay, ID50 = 10.4 mg/ kg, po; MAP-induced hypermotility, 98% inhibition, 10 mg/kg, ip). The S-(+)-form of compound 26n dihydrochloride (TAK-218), which has 30 times more potent antagonistic activity on MAP-induced hypermotility than the R-(-)-form, improved more significantly the survival rate in the cerebral ischemia model (rat, 1-3 mg/kg, ip) during the period of 1-14 days after ischemia and decreased functional disorders in the traumatic brain injury model (rat, 0.1-1 mg/kg, ip) 3-14 days after injury. These results imply a role for dopamine in deterioration of CNS function after ischemic and traumatic injury. TAK-218 is a promising compound for the treatment of stroke and CNS trauma and is now under clinical investigation.

No abstract

Probetaenone I (1) has been synthesized by an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction and, thereby, its structure has been clearly confirmed; in the biosynthesis of betaenone B (2) the stereochemistry of the C-8 hydroxylation of (1) was proved to involve retention of configuration.Paper 9/05458H