Novel Quinazoline Derivatives Inhibit Splicing of Fungal Group II Introns.

We report the discovery of small molecules that target the RNA tertiary structure of self-splicing group II introns and display potent antifungal activity against yeasts, including the major public health threat . High-throughput screening efforts against a yeast group II intron resulted in an inhibitor class which was then synthetically optimized for enhanced inhibitory activity and antifungal efficacy. The most highly refined compounds in this series display strong, gene-specific antifungal activity against .

Assembly of Complex Macrocycles by Incrementally Amalgamating Unprotected Peptides with a Designed Four-Armed Insert.

We describe the asymmetric synthesis of a highly substituted ω-octynoic acid derivative and demonstrate its utility for generating complex macrocycles from unprotected peptides. The molecule harbors an isolated quaternary center that displays four uniquely functionalized arms, each of which can be reacted orthogonally in sequence as the molecule is integrated into peptide structure. These processing sequences entail (1) scaffold ligation, (2) macrocyclization via internal aromatic alkylations or catalyzed etherifications, (3) acyliminium ion mediated embedding of condensed heterocycles, and (4) terminal alkyne derivatization or dimerization reactions.