Publications by authors named "Karol Michalak"

Natural cardiac-active principles built upon the 14,16β-dihydroxy-5β,14β-androstane core and bearing a heterocyclic substituent at 17β, in particular, a cardenolide - oleandrin and a bufadienolide - bufotalin, are receiving a great deal of attention as potential anticancer drugs. The densely substituted and sterically shielded ring D is the particular structural feature of these compounds. The first synthesis of oleandrigenin from easily available steroid starting material is reported here.

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Oleandrin, the major biologically active constituent of shrub Nerium oleander preparations of which have been used in traditional Mediterranean and Asian medicine, attracts a great deal of attention due to its pronounced anticancer activity. The synthesis of oleandrigenin model, 16β-hydroxy-3β-methoxy-5α-card-20(22)-enolide 16-acetate, from androstenolone acetate through 17β-(3-furyl)-intermediates has been developed. Several related 17β-(butenolidyl)- and 17β-(furyl)-androstane derivatives were synthesized and tested for in vitro cytotoxic and Na/K-ATP-ase inhibitory activities.

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Covering: early studies through to March 2016Cardenolides and bufadienolides constitute an attractive class of biologically active steroid derivatives which have been used for the treatment of heart disease in traditional remedies as well as in modern medicinal therapy. Due to their application as therapeutic agents and their unique molecular structures, bearing unsaturated 5- or 6-membered lactones (or other heterocycles) attached to the steroid core, cardio-active steroids have received great attention, which has intensified during the last decade, in the synthetic organic community. Advances in the field of cross-coupling reactions have provided a powerful tool for the attachment of lactone subunits to the steroid core.

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The first synthetic approach to the core structure of cardiac glycoside oleandrin exhibiting a potent cytotoxic activity, starting from a common androstane derivative, has been accomplished. The synthesis is focused on stereoselective transformations in the densely substituted and sterically shielded five-membered ring (steroid ring D). The developed synthesis paves a route to the synthesis of related bufadienolides, i.

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A series of representative optically active derivatives of 4-hydroxy-5-alkylcyclopent-2-en-1-one were prepared from the respective 2-furyl methyl carbinols via the Piancatelli rearrangement followed by the enzymatic kinetic resolution of racemates. Applicability of chiroptical methods (experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism [ECD] and vibrational circular dichroism [VCD] spectra) to determine the absolute configuration of both stereogenic centers in 4-hydroxy-5-methylcyclopent-2-en-1-one was demonstrated. It was also demonstrated that the concurrent application of ECD and VCD spectroscopy can be used for the determination of the configuration of two stereogenic centers.

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The total diastereoselective synthesis of dicyclopenta[a,d]cyclooctane core skeleton of tricyclic terpenoids, fusicoccins, and ophiobolins is reported. The synthesis commences from 2-methylcyclopent-2-en-1-one and leads first to the easily accessible intermediary cyclopenta[8]annulene 18. The subsequent steps include two key transformations: shifting the angular methyl group from the angular to the neighboring position employing a carbocationic rearrangement (26 → 28) and construction of a quaternary stereogenic center via alkylation of α-methylcyclooctanone intermediate (38 → 48).

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An efficient synthesis of the key building block for 17-epi-calctriol from the Hajos-Parrish dione involving a sequence of diastereoselective transformation of the azulene core and the side-chain construction is presented.

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In the present work, the validity of the helicity rule relating the absolute configuration of the bridgehead carbon atom in bicyclic β-lactams to the sign of the 220 nm band observed in their electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra is examined for ring-expanded cephalosporin analogues. To this end, a series of model compounds with a seven-membered ring condensed with the β-lactam unit was synthesized. A key step of their synthesis was either the ring-closing metathesis (RCM) or the free radical cyclization leading to the seven-membered ring with an S, O, or C atom at the 6 position in the bicyclic skeleton.

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An efficient and operationally simple synthesis of the neodolestane diterpenoids (±)-heptemerone G and (±)-guanacastepene A is reported. The common tricyclic scaffold (±)-4 was prepared from 2-methylcyclopent-2-en-1-one via 23 isolated intermediates in 5.1% yield.

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Transformation of representative 2,3-epoxy alcohols, including 3-trimethylsilyl- and 3-triphenylsilylglycidols, into the corresponding 2,3-epithio alcohol dimethylthiocarbamate derivatives under mild alkaline conditions is reported.

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The origins of different stereoselectivities observed experimentally in the alkylations of azulenone precursors in the guanacastepene A synthesis have been determined through density functional theory investigations. The optimized transition structures of methylation of two different guanacastepene A precursors show that steric effects, rather than torsional factors that often determine such stereoselectivities, dictate the preferred products observed.

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Sesqui- and sesterterpenes of ophiobolin and fusicoccin families are important synthetic targets because of complexity of structure and potentially useful physiological activities, including anti-tumor activity. A synthesis of versatile building blocks for these terpenoids is described. Cyclopenta[8]annulene rings system with properly dislocated substituents was constructed using as key steps ring closing metathesis reaction and Wagner - Meerwein rearrangement.

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An efficient synthesis of 17-epi-calcitriol 2, an epimer of natural hormone, via 17-epi-cholesterol 5a is described. Synthesis of 5a includes palladium-catalyzed cyclopropanation of the common androstane derivative 7 with an alkyl diazoacetate, reductive fission of the less shielded side of cyclopropane carboxylic acid esters 6, oxidation of the products into acid 11a, and alkylation of ester 11b. Photolysis of 7,8-dedydro-17-epi-25-hydroxycholesterol 19b and consecutive thermal rearrangement gave a mixture of several products that was subjected to ozonolysis to provide, after chromatography, hydroxy ketone 3a.

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The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between QRS amplitude and left ventricular mass (LVM) in early stages of two different experimental models of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in rats: in exercise-induced hypertrophy and pathological hypertrophy due to genetically conditioned pressure overload. Three groups of experimental animals were studied: healthy control Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKYs), spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), and WKY rats exposed to training by intermittent swimming (SWIM). Orthogonal electrocardiograms were recorded in each group at the age of 12 and 20 weeks, and the maximum spatial QRS vector (QRSmax) was calculated.

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