Chalcons, polymerization

Chalcones (including 11) contain a l,3-diaryl-a,/)-unsaturated ketone moiety and have anti-cancer properties [38]. As analogs of CA-4, 7, the mode of cytotoxic action of chalcones has been shown to be similar to the com-bretastatins. They bind to the colchicine site of tubulin and inhibit tubulin polymerization [39]. 

The synthesis of biologically important heterocyclic stilbene and chalcone derivatives of combretastatins has been discussed. Combretastatins have been shown to be inhibitors of tubulin polymerization. In many cases the compounds described in this chapter were included because of an interesting synthesis or structure, although limited biological data were found. It is the author s opinion that a great number of the compounds contained within this review are worthy of further investigation as potential tubulin binders. 

See also Epoxy coatings Epoxy chalcone, 10 450 12,13-Epoxy-cis-9-octadecenoic (vernolic) acid, physical properties, 5 35t Epoxy coatings, 10 436 450 17 845. See also Epoxy can coatings for corrosion protection, 7 199 markets for, 10 442-449 performance of, 10 423 waterborne, 10 439 Epoxy composites, 10 450, 451 Epoxy compounds, photoinitiated polymerization of, 23 716 Epoxy content analysis, 10 385 Epoxy cresol novolac (ECN) resins, 10 367, 369... 

The PAs, or condensed tannins, are polymers synthesized from flavan-3-ol monomer units. The phlobaphenes are 3-deoxy-PAs formed from flavan-4-ol monomers. The biosynthesis of both types of PAs follows the biosynthetic route of anthocyanins from chalcones through to the branch points to flavan-3-ol and flavan-4-ol formation. In this section, the specific enzymes forming the monomers are discussed, along with a discussion on the polymerization process. Although the chemistry of tannins is described in detail elsewhere in this book, it is useful to briefly mention the nature of the monomer subunit types and the polymer forms. 

H202 are required [72]. These authors also investigated the effect of the method used for the preparation of polyleucine, and found that material made by high-temperature polymerization gave the best results. Much lower loadings of polyleucine can now be used (down to 0.5 mol% for chalcone epoxidation). The same group has carried out the process on the 100-g scale [73]. Although these conditions have not yet been tested as widely as the Roberts biphasic ones, a non-chalcone substrate was reported (Scheme 12.16). 

Chiral crystals generated from non-chiral molecules have served as reactants for the performance of so-called absolute asymmetric synthesis. The chiral environments of such crystals exert asymmetric induction in photochemical, thermal and heterogeneous reactions [41]. Early reports on successful absolute asymmetric synthesis include the y-ray-induced isotactic polymerization of frans-frans-l,3-pentadiene in an all-frans perhydropheny-lene crystal by Farina et al. [42] and the gas-solid asymmetric bromination ofpjp -chmethyl chalcone, yielding the chiral dibromo compound, by Penzien and Schmidt [43]. These studies were followed by the 2n + 2n photodimerization reactions of non-chiral dienes, resulting in the formation of chiral cyclobutanes [44-48]. In recent years more than a dozen such syntheses have been reported. They include unimolecular di- r-methane rearrangements and the Nourish Type II photoreactions [49] of an achiral oxo- [50] and athio-amide [51] into optically active /Mactams, photo-isomerization of alkyl-cobalt complexes [52], asymmetric synthesis of two-component molecular crystals composed from achiral molecules [53] and, more recently, the conversion of non-chiral aldehydes into homochiral alcohols [54,55]. 

The influence of the same metal cations on the yields and products of reduction of ring-substituted chalcones, 20, in DMF (BU4NB1 ) is similar to the effect already described for styryl alkyl ketones. In all cases, polymerization was prevented and mixtures of the LHD and the CHD in an overall yield of 70-90% were obtained. Except for Mir", the presence of the metal ions favored the CHD [22]. 

Another reaction where amino acids play a key role is the Julia-Golonna epoxidation of a,P-unsaturated ketones [52], which involves the use of a catalytic amount of polymeric amino acids, able to catalyze the Weitz-Scheffer epoxidation of chalcone using basic hydrogen peroxide, with high enantioselectivity (Scheme 8.17 Equation a). 

AUen and Van Allen 32> synthesized a polymeric chalcone for use as a photolithographic material from polystyrene and cinnamoyl chloride. 

Several examples are known of the enantioselective conversion of alkenes into epoxides with the use of polymer-supported oxidation catalysts. This can be traced to the pioneering work by Julia and Colonna in 1980. They demonstrated that highly enantioselective epoxidations of chalcones and related a, 3-unsaturated ketones can be achieved with the use of insoluble poly(a-amino acids) (116, Scheme 10.20) as catalysts [298-301]. The so-called Julia-Colonna epoxidation has been the object of several excellent reviews [302-306]. The terminal oxidant is H202 in aq. NaOH. With lipophilic amino acids as the components, such as (SJ-valine or (SJ-leucine, enantioselectivities as high as 96-97% ee were obtained. The enan-tioselectivity depends of several factors, including the side-chain of the amino acid, the nature of the end groups and the degree of polymerization. Thus, for instance,... 

Scheme 8.7. Nucleophilic epoxidation reactions of enones. (a) Epoxidation of chalcone using phase-transfer [32] or polymeric amino acid [33] catalysis.

Fig. (3). Structures of flavonoids that show interference with tubulin polymerization and antimitotic compounds structurally correlated with the former. A Flavone B. C Synthetic chalcones D Combretastatin A-4 E Colchicine.

The compound has functional groups that support dimerization type crosslinking and cationic polymerization upon UV exposure (A, = 300—360 nm).. Photodimerization of the chalcone-epoxy compound was confirmed by UV-visible and IR absorbance changes of the C=C double bond of the chalcone unit. Additions of small amounts of onium salts will also photoinitiate cationic polymerization of the epoxy groups present in the above chalcone-epoxy compound by exposine to UV. This ultra-violet light cured chalcone-epoxy compound was reported to possess excellent thermal stability and compares well with conventional UV-cured Bisphenol A type epoxy resins. (see Chapter 3)... 

Cyclic Disulphides and Cyclic Diselenides.—Formation. No fundamentally new methods of synthesis of this class of compounds have been reported in the past two years. For l,2>dithiolan the oxidation of l,3>dithiols remains a favoured method, the use of iodine in the presence of triethylamine leading smoothly to 1,2-dithiolans without attendant polymerization. cis- and tra/ -l,2-Dithiolan-3,5-dicarboxylic acids were prepared from a diastereo-isomeric mixture of dimethyl 2,4-dibromoglutarates by sequential treatment with potassium thioacetate and potassium hydroxide in the presence of iodine,and jyn-2,3-dithiabicyclo[3,2,l]octan-8-ol was formed from 2,6-dibromocyclohexanone by successive treatment with potassium thiocyanate, lithium aluminium hydride, and iodine. The stereoselective formation of the less thermodynamically stable alcohol in this case was attributed partly to the formation of chelates with sulphur-aluminium bonds. 2,2-Dimethyl-l,3-dibromopropane was converted into 4,4-dimethyl-l,2-diselenolan on treatment with potassium selenocyanate at 175 °C, but at 140 °C the product was 3,3-dimethylselenetan. Reductive debenzylation of 2-alkylamino-l,3-bis(benzylthio)propanes with lithium in liquid ammonia and oxidation of the resultant dithiols with air afforded 4-dialkylamino-l,2-dithiolans, whilst treatment of a-bromomethyl-chalcone with sodium hydrosulphide gave, as minor product, trans-3 phenyl-4-benzoyl-l,2-dithiolan. Among the many products of thermal decomposition of /ra/ -2,4-diphenylthietan was l,4,5,7-tetraphenyl-2,3-dithiabicyclo [2,2,2]octane. ... 

Havanols are a wide group of polyphenols that include flavan-3-ols (e.g., catechin and proanthocyanidins), flavan-4-ols, and flavan-3,4-diols. They arise from plant secondary metabolism through condensation of phenylalanine derived from the shikimate pathway with malonyl-CoA obtained from citrate that is produced by the tricarboxylic acid cycle, leading to the formation of the key precursor in the flavonoids biosynthesis the naringenin chalcone. The exact nature of the molecular species that undergo polymerization and the mechanism of assembly in proanthocyanidins are still unknown. From a structural point of view, flavanols... 

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