Eric K. Paulson

Thiostrepton is a potent antibiotic against a broad range of Gram‐positive bacteria, but its medical applications have been limited by its poor aqueous solubility. In this work, the first C(sp²)−H amidation of dehydroalanine (Dha) residues was applied to the site selective modification of thiostrepton to prepare a variety of derivatives. Unlike all prior methods for the modification of thiostrepton, the alkene framework of the Dha residue is preserved and with complete selectivity for the Z‐stereoisomer. Additionally, an aldehyde group was introduced by C−H amidation, enabling oxime ligation for the installation of an even greater range of functionality. The thiostrepton derivatives generally maintain antimicrobial activity, and importantly, eight of the derivatives displayed improved aqueous solubility (up to 28‐fold), thereby addressing a key shortcoming of this antibiotic. The exceptional functional group compatibility and site selectivity of Co^III‐catalyzed C(sp²)−H Dha amidation suggests that this approach could be generalized to other natural products and biopolymers containing Dha residues.

X-ray crystallography has been applied to the structural analysis of a series of tetrapeptides that were previously assessed for catalytic activity in an atroposelective bromination reaction. Common to the series is a central Pro-Xaa sequence, where Pro is either l- or d-proline, which was chosen to favor nucleation of canonical β-turn secondary structures. Crystallographic analysis of 35 different peptide sequences revealed a range of conformational states. The observed differences appear not only in cases where the Pro-Xaa loop-region is altered, but also when seemingly subtle alterations to the flanking residues are introduced. In many instances, distinct conformers of the same sequence were observed, either as symmetry-independent molecules within the same unit cell or as polymorphs. Computational studies using DFT provided additional insight into the analysis of solid-state structural features. Select X-ray crystal structures were compared to the corresponding solution structures derived from measured proton chemical shifts, ³J-values, and ¹H–¹H-NOESY contacts. These findings imply that the conformational space available to simple peptide-based catalysts is more diverse than precedent might suggest. The direct observation of multiple ground state conformations for peptides of this family, as well as the dynamic processes associated with conformational equilibria, underscore not only the challenge of designing peptide-based catalysts, but also the difficulty in predicting their accessible transition states. These findings implicate the advantages of low-barrier interconversions between conformations of peptide-based catalysts for multistep, enantioselective reactions.

We describe herein a crystallographic and NMR study of the secondary structural attributes of a β-turn-containing tetra-peptide, Boc-Dmaa-D-Pro-Acpc-Leu-NMe₂, which was recently reported as a highly effective catalyst in the atroposelective bromination of 3-arylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones. Inquiries pertaining to the functional consequences of residue substitutions led to the discovery of a more selective catalyst, Boc-Dmaa-D-Pro-Acpc-Leu-OMe, the structure of which was also explored. This new lead catalyst was found to exhibit a type I′ β-turn secondary structure both in the solid state and in solution, a structure that was shown to be an accessible conformation of the previously reported catalyst, as well.

(–)-Lomaiviticin A (1) is a complex antiproliferative metabolite that inhibits the growth of many cultured cancer cell lines at low nanomolar–picomolar concentrations. (–)-Lomaiviticin A (1) possesses a C₂-symmetric structure that contains two unusual diazotetrahydrobenzo[b]fluorene (diazofluorene) functional groups. Nucleophilic activation of each diazofluorene within 1 produces vinyl radical intermediates that affect hydrogen atom abstraction from DNA, leading to the formation of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Certain DNA DSB repair-deficient cell lines are sensitized toward 1, and 1 is under evaluation in preclinical models of these tumor types. However, the mode of binding of 1 to DNA had not been determined. Here we elucidate the structure of a 1:1 complex between 1 and the duplex d(GCTATAGC)₂ by NMR spectroscopy and computational modeling. Unexpectedly, we show that both diazofluorene residues of 1 penetrate the duplex. This binding disrupts base pairing leading to ejection of the central AT bases, while placing the proreactive centers of 1 in close proximity to each strand. DNA binding may also enhance the reactivity of 1 toward nucleophilic activation through steric compression and conformational restriction (an example of shape-dependent catalysis). This study provides a structural basis for the DNA cleavage activity of 1, will guide the design of synthetic DNA-activated DNA cleavage agents, and underscores the utility of natural products to reveal novel modes of small molecule–DNA association.

A tridentate NNN Ni^II complex, shown to be an electrocatalyst for aqueous H₂ production at low overpotentials, is studied by using temperature-dependent paramagnetic ¹H NMR. The NMR T₁ relaxation rates, temperature dependence of the chemical shifts, and dc SQUID magnetic susceptibility are correlated to DFT chemical shifts and compared with the properties of a diamagnetic Zn analogue complex. The resulting characterization provides an unambiguous assignment of the six proton environments in the meridionally coordinating tridentate NNN ligand. The demonstrated NMR/DFT methodology should be valuable in the search for appropriate ligands to optimize the reactivity of 3d metal complexes bound to attract increasing attention in catalytic applications.

The limits of resolution that can be obtained in ¹H–¹⁵N 2D NMR spectroscopy of isotopically enriched nanocrystalline proteins are explored. Combinations of frequency switched Lee–Goldburg (FSLG) decoupling, fast magic angle sample spinning (MAS), and isotopic dilution via deuteration are investigated as methods for narrowing the amide ¹H resonances. Heteronuclear decoupling of ¹⁵N from the ¹H resonances is also studied. Using human ubiquitin as a model system, the best resolution is most easily obtained with uniformly ²H and ¹⁵N enriched protein where the amides have been exchanged in normal water, MAS at ∼20 kHz, and WALTZ-16 decoupling of the ¹⁵N nuclei. The combination of these techniques results in average ¹H lines of only ∼0.26 ppm full width at half maximum. Techniques for optimizing instrument stability and ¹⁵N decoupling are described for achieving the best possible performance in these experiments.

Solid-state NMR 2D spectroscopy was used to correlate carbon backbone and side-chain chemical shifts for uniformly ¹³C,¹⁵N-enriched microcrystalline ubiquitin. High applied field strengths, 800 MHz for protons, moderate proton decoupling fields, 80−100 kHz, and high magic angle sample spinning frequencies, 20 kHz, were used to narrow the most of the carbon line widths to 0.5−0.8 ppm. Homonuclear magnetization transfer was effected by matching the proton RF field to the spinning frequency, the so-called dipolar-assisted rotational resonance (DARR) (Takegoshi, K.; Nakamura, S.; Terao, T. Chem. Phys. Lett.2001, 344, 631−637), and a mixing time of 20 ms was used to maximize the intensity of one-bond transfers between carbon atoms. This polarization transfer sequence resulted in roughly 14% transfer efficiencies for directly bonded carbon pairs and 4% transfer efficiencies for carbons separated by a third carbon. With this simple procedure, the majority of the one-bond correlations was observed with moderate transfer efficiencies, and many two-bond correlations were also observed with weaker intensities. Spin systems could be identified for more than half of the amino acid side chains, and site-specific assignments were readily possible via comparison with 400 MHz ¹⁵N−¹³C−¹³C correlation spectroscopy (described separately).