Ester-based cascade

Ester-based cascades (e.g., 107) have been prepared[77 80i by using 5-(tert-butyldime-thylsiloxy)isophthaloyl dichloride (108), which was synthesized in high yield from 5-hydroxy-isophthalic acid (Scheme 5.26). The dendron wedges were prepared by treatment of siloxane 108 with phenol to give bis(aryl ester) 109, which was hydrolyzed, or desilylated (HC1, acetone), to generate a new phenolic terminus. Treatment of this free phenolic moiety with monomer 108, followed by hydrolysis, afforded the next tier (110). Repetition of the sequence followed by reaction of the free focal phenols with a triacyl chloride core, (e.g., 86), afforded the fourth tier dendrimer 107 of the polyester aryl series. It was noted that the choice of base (N, A-dimethylaniline) used in the final esterification was critical, since with pyridine bases (pyridine or 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine) facile transesterification resulting in branch fragmentation occurred. 

Photoresist appHcations in the microelectronics industry have also been disclosed (340). Thermally stable ben2yl sulfonate esters based on 2-methyl-3-nitroben2otrifluoride [6656-49-1] can serve as nonionic photoacid generators to promote a cascade of reactions during irradiation of the resist. 

From a chemical point of view, the El/ubiquitin thiol ester should be competent to donate ubiquitin to a substrate amino group. In fact, aminoacyl-errzyme thiol esters are used in exactly this way in non-ribosomal polypeptide synthesis, a process that was discovered around the same time as ubiquitin-protein conjugation [5]. In spite of the attractive simplicity of this model, however, biochemical reconstitution studies showed that besides El two additional fractions were required to conjugate ubiquitin to a model substrate. They were called ubiquitin carrier protein (E2) and ubiquitin-protein ligase (E3), respectively, since the respective factors seemed to act sequentially [6]. Interestingly, the E2 factor apparently formed a thiol ester with ubiquitin. Based on these results, Hershko and co-workers proposed the ubiquitin conjugation cascade (Figure 5.1). 

Methanol-0-4 methyl nitrite, and dimethyl disulfide have been examined as potential chemical probes for distinguishing between alkoxides and enolates in the gas phase.171 Methanol-0-d proved to be unsuitable and methyl nitrite reacts too slowly in contrast, the reactive ambident behaviour of dimethyl disulfide results in elimination across the C—S bond on reaction with alkoxides ( hard bases ) and attack at sulfur by enolates ( soft bases ). This probe has been applied to investigation of the anionic oxy-Cope rearrangement. The dianionic oxy-Cope rearrangement is a key step in a squarate ester cascade involving stereoinduced introduction of two alkenyllithium reagents cis to each other.172... 

In a recent pubhcation the nitrile (EWG = CN) variant [ 126] of this chemistry was performed in water by applying N,N-diethylaminopropylated sihca gel as heterogeneous catalyst [ 128]. Another variant of this reaction sequence, leading to chiral sulfinylated enones, has been developed by Llera [ 129] employing the enantiomerically pure geminal bis(sulfoxide) 208 (Scheme 54). This bis(sulfoxide) was prepared from (-)-p-toluenesulfinic acid menthyl ester [100], as described by Kunieda [130]. Later this procedure was improved to increase the yield from 35 to 91% [13,131]. Treatment of 208 with enolizable aldehydes or ketones, in the presence of piperidine as a base and thiophile, initiated a reaction cascade involving a condensation step (to 210), a proton shift to allylic sulfoxide 211, and a [2,3]-0-shift followed by a piperidine-mediated desulfuration delivering the alcohols 212 as isomeric mixtures. Oxidation of the latter compounds (one of the R = H) led to enantiomerically pure E-y-oxo vinyl sulfoxides 213. 

Later on, the same group developed a highly stereoselective Michael-Michael cascade process catalyzed by the quinine-based thiourea 81b [29b]. In the presence of a low catalyst loading (2 mol%), the reaction of trans-3-(2-mercaptophenyl)-2-prope-noic acid ethyl ester (106) with a wide range of nitroalkenes (107) afforded thio-chromanes (108) having three new stereocenters with high stereoselectivity (dr >30 1, up to 99% ee, Scheme 9.36). 

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