Total synthesis of the plant alkaloid racemic microthecaline A: first example of a natural product bearing a tricyclic quinoline-serrulatane scaffold.

The first total synthesis of racemic microthecaline A, a quinoline serrulatane alkaloid, isolated from the Australian desert plant is described. The natural product was synthesized in ten steps, starting from ethyl 4-bromo-6-methoxy-8-methylquinoline-3-carboxylate in 8% overall yield.

Role of the galactosyl moiety of collagen glycopeptides for T-cell stimulation in a model for rheumatoid arthritis.

Two protected derivatives of beta-D-galactopyranosyl-5-hydroxy-L-lysine, in which HO-4 of galactose has been O-methylated or replaced by fluorine, have been prepared. The building blocks were incorporated at position 264 of the peptide fragment CII259-273 from type II collagen by solid-phase synthesis. The ability of these two glycopeptides, and two CII259-273 glycopeptides in which HO-4 of galactose was either unmodified or deoxygenated, to elicit responses from T-cell hybridomas obtained in a mouse model for rheumatoid arthritis was then determined.

An expedient synthesis of tetrakis(cyclopropylmethyl)methane.

Synthesis of tetrakis(cyclopropylmethyl)methane, a new symmetric product has been described using the radical mediated gem-diallylation of cyclopropylmethyl xanthate as a key step and its single crystal X-ray analysis established its C2-symmetry.