Allele-Selective Thiomorpholino Antisense Oligonucleotides as a Therapeutic Approach for Fused-in-Sarcoma Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Pathogenic variations in the fused in sarcoma () gene are associated with rare and aggressive forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). As FUS-ALS is a dominant disease, a targeted, allele-selective approach to knockdown is most suitable. Antisense oligonucleotides (AOs) are a promising therapeutic platform for treating such diseases.

Screening Splice-Switching Antisense Oligonucleotides in Pancreas-Cancer Organoids.

Aberrant alternative splicing is emerging as a cancer hallmark and a potential therapeutic target. It is the result of dysregulated or mutated splicing factors, or genetic alterations in splicing-regulatory -elements. Targeting individual altered splicing events associated with cancer-cell dependencies is a potential therapeutic strategy, but several technical limitations need to be addressed.

Compromised nonsense-mediated RNA decay results in truncated RNA-binding protein production upon DUX4 expression.

Nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD) degrades transcripts carrying premature termination codons. NMD is thought to prevent the synthesis of toxic truncated proteins. However, whether loss of NMD results in widespread production of truncated proteins is unclear.

Direct Synthesis of Polyaryls by Consecutive Oxidative Cross-Coupling of Phenols with Arenes.

A bioinspired iron-catalyzed consecutive oxidative cross-coupling reaction between a single phenolic unit and nucleophilic arenes was developed. This sustainable transformation offers a selective synthetic strategy for the preparation of complex polyaryl compounds directly from readily available phenols. With the aid of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, it was demonstrated that the groups ortho to the phenolic functionality (whether hydrogen, methyl, or methoxy) direct the regioselectivity (ortho, para, or meta via dienone-phenol rearrangement) and chemoselectivity (C-C coupling or C-O coupling) in this multistep process.

Significant enhancement in the efficiency and selectivity of iron-catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling of phenols by fluoroalcohols.

Significant enhancement of both the rate and the chemoselectivity of iron-catalyzed oxidative coupling of phenols can be achieved in fluorinated solvents, such as 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-ol (HFIP), 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE), and 1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol. The generality of this effect was examined for the cross-coupling of phenols with arenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and of phenol with β-dicarbonyl compounds. The new conditions were utilized in the synthesis of 2'''-dehydroxycalodenin B in only four synthetic steps.

Copper(I)-catalyzed intramolecular O-arylation for the synthesis of 2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-xanthen-1-ones with low loads of CuCl.

As little as 0.5 mol % CuCl is sufficient to catalyze the intramolecular O-arylation of easily accessible 2-(2-bromobenzyl)cyclohexane-1,3-diones to provide the corresponding 2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-xanthen-1-ones with yields ranging from 83% to 99%.

Cu(I)-catalyzed annulation for the synthesis of substituted naphthalenes using o-bromobenzaldehydes and β-ketoesters as substrates.

Cu(I)-catalyzed reaction of o-bromobenzaldehydes with β-ketoesters using Cs(2)CO(3) as a base and 2-picolinic acid as an additive proceeds under mild conditions and gives access to substituted naphthalenes in a single step with yields ranging from 71 to 86%. The new annulation process relies on a domino Knoevenagel condensation/C-arylation/1,2-addition/carboxylic acid cleavage. The annulation can also be achieved with o-iodobenzaldehyde.