Novel types of spin-labeled N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimides (DCC) are reported that bear a 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxyl (TEMPO) residue on one side and different aromatic and aliphatic cyclohexyl analogues on the other side of the diimide core. These readily available novel reagents add efficiently to aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids, forming two possible spin-labeled amide derivatives with different radical distances of the resulting amide. The addition of aromatic DCC analogues proceeds with excellent selectivity, giving amides where the carboxylic acid is exclusively connected to the aromatic residue, while little or no selectivity was observed for the aliphatic congeners. The usefulness of these adducts in structural studies was demonstrated by EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) measurements of biradical adducts of biphenyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acids. These analyses also reveal high degrees of conformational bias for aromatic DCC derivatives, which further underlines the powerfulness of these novel reagents. This observation was further corroborated by quantum chemical calculations, giving a detailed understanding of the structural dynamics, while detailed information on the solid state structure of all novel reagents was obtained by X-ray structure analyses.

Inspired by the bioactive natural metabolites leupyrrin A₁ and B₁, two novel stereoselective methods for the highly concise synthesis of densely substituted α-chiral butyrolactones are reported. The first approach relies on an innovative three-step Ti^III-catalyzed radical reaction that proceeds with excellent chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivity. The alternative route utilizes sequential asymmetric alkylations and enables asymmetric synthesis of the authentic α-tetrasubstituted butyrolactone motif of the leupyrrins in only four steps from commercially available substrates.

The natural products rhizopodin and bistramide belong to an elite class of highly potent actin binding agents. They show powerful antiproliferative activities against a range of tumor cell lines, with IC₅₀ values in the low-nanomolar range. At the molecular level they disrupt the actin cytoskeleton by binding specifically to a few critical sites of G-actin, resulting in actin filament stabilization. The important biological properties of rhizopodin and bistramide, coupled with their unique and intriguing molecular architectures, render them attractive compounds for further development. However, this is severely hampered by the structural complexity of these metabolites. We initiated an interdisciplinary approach at the interface between molecular modeling, organic synthesis, and chemical biology to support further biological applications. We also wanted to expand structure–activity relationship studies with the goal of accessing simplified analogues with potent biological properties. We report computational analyses of actin–inhibitor interactions involving molecular docking, validated on known actin binding ligands, that show a close match between the crystal and modeled structures. Based on these results, the ligand shape was simplified, and more readily accessible rhizopodin–bistramide mimetics were designed. A flexible and modular strategy was applied for the synthesis of these compounds, enabling diverse access to dramatically simplified rhizopodin–bistramide hybrids. This novel analogue class was analyzed for its antiproliferative and actin binding properties.

A highly convergent total synthesis of the potent polyketide macrolide rhizopodin has been achieved in 29 steps by employing a concise strategy that exploits the molecule′s C₂ symmetry. Notable features of this convergent approach include a rapid assembly of the macrocycle through a site-directed sequential cross-coupling strategy and the bidirectional attachment of the side chains by means of Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) coupling reactions. During the course of this endeavor, scalable routes for synthesis of three main building blocks of similar complexity were developed that allowed for their stereocontrolled construction. This modular route will be amenable to the development of syntheses of other analogues of rhizopodin.