3.3.1. Potential of the “Metagenome” 3016 3.3.2. Cryptic Clusters in Bacteria and Fungi 3016 3.3.3. Cyanophytes 3017 3.3.4. Marine Microbes (Non-Cyanophytes) 3018 3.3.5. Extremophiles 3018 3.3.6. Microbial Symbionts 3019 3.3.7. Plant Endophytes 3020 3.3.8. Combinatorial Biosynthesis 3020 4. Development of Drugs from Natural Products 3020 4.1. Synthesis Based on Natural Products 3021 4.1.1. Derivatization and Semisynthesis 3021 4.1.2. Total Synthesis 3021 4.1.3. Diverted Total Synthesis 3021 4.2. Natural Product-Inspired Combinatorial Synthesis 3022

Impact of natural products on developing new anti-cancer agents

Drug discovery from marine natural products has enjoyed a renaissance in the past few years. Ziconotide (Prialt; Elan Pharmaceuticals), a peptide originally discovered in a tropical cone snail, was the first marine-derived compound to be approved in the United States in December 2004 for the treatment of pain. Then, in October 2007, trabectedin (Yondelis; PharmaMar) became the first marine anticancer drug to be approved in the European Union. Here, we review the history of drug discovery from marine natural products, and by describing selected examples, we examine the factors that contribute to new discoveries and the difficulties associated with translating marine-derived compounds into clinical trials. Providing an outlook into the future, we also examine the advances that may further expand the promise of drugs from the sea.

Drug development from marine natural products

The cell cycle represents a series of tightly integrated events that allow the cell to grow and proliferate. Critical parts of the cell cycle machinery are the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), which, when activated, provide a means for the cell to move from one phase of the cell cycle to the next. The CDKs are regulated positively by cyclins and regulated negatively by naturally occurring CDK inhibitors (CDKIs). Cancer represents a dysregulation of the cell cycle such that cells that overexpress cyclins or do not express the CDKIs continue to undergo unregulated cell growth. The cell cycle also serves to protect the cell from DNA damage. Thus, cell cycle arrest, in fact, represents a survival mechanism that provides the tumor cell the opportunity to repair its own damaged DNA. Thus, abrogation of cell cycle checkpoints, before DNA repair is complete, can activate the apoptotic cascade, leading to cell death. Now in clinical trials are a series of targeted agents that directly inhibit the CDKs, inhibit unrestricted cell growth, and induce growth arrest. Recent attention has also focused on these drugs as inhibitors of transcription. In addition, there are now agents that abrogate the cell cycle checkpoints at critical time points that make the tumor cell susceptible to apoptosis. An understanding of the cell cycle is critical to understanding how best to clinically develop these agents, both as single agents and in combination with chemotherapy.

Targeting the Cell Cycle: A New Approach to Cancer Therapy

Transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of alkyl metals and aryl halides or pseudohalides have emerged as a powerful methodology for the formation of Csp3-Csp2 bonds over the past decades.1 However, significant attention has also been focused on Pdand Ni-catalyzed Csp3-Csp2 bond-forming reactions that involve aryl metals and haloalkyl compounds lacking -hydrogen atoms as cross-coupling partners.2 In contrast, until a few years ago, few examples were reported in the literature concerning transition metalcatalyzed reactions of aryl metals with functionalized alkyl halides including R-halocarbonyl compounds and R-bromosulfones bearing -hydrogen atoms,3 and a single example of Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of aryl metals and unfunctionalized alkyl halides bearing -hydrogen atoms had been described.4 Only in recent years, successful procedures for the Pd-,5 Ni-,6 Rh-,7 Fe-,8 V-,9 Co-,10 and Cu-catalyzed11 cross-coupling reactions of aryl metals and unfunctionalized alkyl halides bearing -hydrogen atoms have been developed.12 Nevertheless, new, effective, and more environmentallybenignmethodologiesfortheformationof(cyclo)alkyl-aryl bonds, which require a reduced number of synthetic operations, have emerged as valuable alternatives to the conventional cross-coupling reactions. These methodologies (Scheme 1) are based on transition metal-catalyzed simple or 2-fold C-H bond functionalization according to the following approaches: (a) highly regioselective Pd-catalyzed direct arylation reactions of unactivated sp3-hybridized C-H bonds with aryl halides (eq a, Scheme 1);13 (b) Pd-catalyzed direct alkylation reactions of aryl C-H bonds with alkyl metals (eq b, Scheme 1);14 Au-15 or Pdcatalyzed16 direct alkylation reactions of aryl C-H bonds with alkyl halides or pseudohalides (eq c, Scheme 1); (d) Pd-catalyzed arylations of unactivated sp3-hybridized C-H bonds with aryl metals (eq d, Scheme 1);14c (e) Pd-, Ru-, or Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of sp3-hybridized C-H bonds with arylboronic acids using air as oxidant (eq d, Scheme 1);17 and (f) cross-dehydrogenative coupling of alkyl and aryl C-H bonds (eq e, Scheme 1).18 Finally, great attention, particularly in the past decade, has also been focused on the design, development, and application of transition metal-catalyzed coupling reactions of aryl halides and pseudohalides with a wide variety of substrates containing activated sp3-hybridized C-H bonds (eq f, Scheme 1). A mini-review on this topic was published by Scolastico and Poli in 1999,19 and three excellent reviews that concern the results obtained in this rapidly growing area of extensive research by the groups of Miura, Natsume, Hartwig, and Buchwald up to the end of 2002 were published by Miura,20 Hartwig,21 and Lloyd-Jones22 a few years later. However, the reviews by Miura20 and Hartwig21 were limited in that they fundamentally emphasized the author’s own work and * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rossi@dcci.unipi.it. Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 1082–1146 1082

Transition metal-catalyzed direct arylation of substrates with activated sp3-hybridized C-H bonds and some of their synthetic equivalents with aryl halides and pseudohalides.

The marine environment has proven to be a very rich source of extremely potent compounds that have demonstrated significant activities in antitumor, antiinflammatory, analgesia, immunomodulation, allergy, and anti-viral assays. Although the case can and has been made that the nucleosides such as Ara-A and Ara-C are derived from knowledge gained from investigations of bioactive marine nucleosides, no drug directly from marine sources (whether isolated or by total synthesis) has yet made it to the commercial sector in any disease. However, as shown in this review, there are now significant numbers of very interesting molecules that have come from marine sources, or have been synthesized as a result of knowledge gained from a prototypical compound, that are either in or approaching Phase II/III clinical trials in cancer, analgesia, allergy, and cognitive diseases. A substantial number of other potential agents are following in their wake in preclinical trials in these and in other diseases.

Marine Natural Products and Related Compounds in Clinical and Advanced Preclinical Trials

Chemistry and clinical biology of the bryostatins.

The palladium-catalyzed reaction of pinacolone with tert-butyldimethyl(3-(2-bromophenyl)allyloxy)silane results in direct formation of 1-vinyl-3-tert-butyl-1H-isochromene. This is the result of a ketone arylation followed by an intramolecular cyclization of the enolate with the allylic system. The use of a lithium diamide base appears to be essential for success. The tert-butyldimethylsilyl protecting group is also an essential choice as it furnishes the appropriate reactivity to promote allylic substitution after the aryl coupling process. The use of more effective leaving groups, such as acetate, results in reaction of the allylic group, and no aryl coupling is observed. Through the appropriate selection of phosphine ligand and solvent, either the cyclized isochromene product or the noncyclized intermediate may be formed selectively. A short combinatorial study of the scope and limitations of the reaction, involving 24 ketones, is described.

Palladium-catalyzed Tandem Reactions to Form 1-vinyl-1h-isochromene Derivatives

Palladium-Catalyzed Tandem Reactions to Form 1-Vinyl-1H-isochromene Derivatives.

Direct formation of 1-vinyl-1H-isochromene derivatives via a palladium-catalysed coupling reaction

Dihydroxybenzoic acid was modified to three analogues (M2, M4 and M6). The analogues exhibited specific properties that resulted in enhancement of analyte signal intensity with or without addition of iodine compared to the underivatized parent. Addition of iodine to M2, an ester of dihydroxybenzoic acid that had a terminal double bond in the alkyl chain, resulted in peak intensities comparable to the parent, indicating that iodine interaction across the double bond resulted in enhancement although the exact mechanism is not fully understood. No enhancement on addition of iodine was observed for M4, which had a long alkyl chain that contained no double bonds. The alkyl chain allowed micelle formation in solution, which in turn allowed more uniform analyte-to-matrix mixing. The final analogue combined the long alkyl chain of M4 with the double bond of M2 and exhibited either similar peak intensities to that of dihydroxybenzoic acid or better. Micelle formation in solution was examined using spectroscopy and in the solid by reflective microscopy. The standard deviation from spot to spot was considerably lower relative to dihydroxybenzoic acid (RSD 3.4%vs. 14.2%). Unlike dihydroxybenzoic acid, the novel matrix M6 was able to yield characteristic peaks for analytes such as ubiquitin.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry with re-engineered 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid derivative.

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