Regiodivergent Biocatalytic Hydroxylation of L-Glutamine Facilitated by Characterization of Non-Heme Dioxygenases from Non-Ribosomal Peptide Biosyntheses.

We report the functional characterization of two iron- and α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases that are capable of hydroxylating free-standing glutamine at its C3 and C4 position respectively. In particular, the C4 hydroxylase, Q4Ox, catalyzes the reaction with approximately 4,300 total turnover numbers, facilitating synthesis of a solid-phase compatible building block and stereochemical elucidation at the C4 position of the hydroxylated product. This work will enable the development of novel synthetic strategies to prepare useful glutamine derivatives and stimulate further discoveries of new amino acid hydroxylases with distinct substrate specificities.

Silacycle-Templated Intramolecular Diels-Alder Cyclizations for the Diastereoselective Construction of Complex Carbon Skeletons.

The utility of the dioxasiline ring as a π-facial directing group in the intramolecular Diels-Alder cyclization is explored. An initial investigation of substrate scope demonstrates that the rigidity of this directing group delivers robust stereocontrol across a number of substrates, affording single diastereomers in moderate to good yields. A mechanistic investigation reveals that the reactive diene is formed through γ deprotonation followed by [1,5] hydride shifts.

Catalytic intramolecular hydroamination of aminoallenes using titanium and tantalum complexes of sterically encumbered chiral sulfonamides.

Catalysis using earth abundant metals is an important goal due to the relative scarcity and expense of precious metal catalysts. It would be even more beneficial to use earth abundant catalysts for the synthesis of common pharmaceutical structural motifs such as pyrrolidine and pyridine. Thus, developing titanium catalysts for asymmetric ring closing hydroamination is a valuable goal.