Recently, Dr. Li Junlong, a distinguished researcher at Chengdu University, has published a paper entitled "Asymmetric organocatalysis: an enabling technology for medicinal chemistry" (Chem. Soc. Rev.,2021,50, 1522-1586) in the international top academic journal Chemical Society Reviews (Q1 journal of Chinese Academy of Sciences, with an impact factor of 42.85 and the latest immediate impact factor of 52.16) as the correspondent author. The result was selected as the Front Cover Paper of the journal.
With the rapid development of asymmetric organocatalysis, it has undergone scale-up for the production of chiral drugs, natural products, and enantiomerically enriched bioactive molecules as an enabling technology. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the applications of chiral small molecule organocatalysis in medicinal chemistry, and systematically describes its specific applications in pharmaceutical synthesis with a focus on the preparation of antiviral, anticancer, antibacterial, antiparasitic, neuroprotective and cardiovascular agents, as well as several miscellaneous bioactive agents. The paper also features a discussion of the challenges, limitations and future prospects for organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of medicinally valuable compounds. The challenges, opportunities and future development direction of synthesizing small molecule compounds with medicinal value by using organic catalysis strategy were discussed, which has important guiding significance for developing and maintaining sustainable drug discovery by using asymmetric catalysis methodology.
In addition, Dr. Li's research group has delivered several results in the diversity construction of heterocycles, and published papers in Nature Index journals with Chengdu University as the first unit.
They designed a novel type of oxindole-based azaoxyallyl cation synthons, which could readily participate in the [3 + 1] cyclization with sulfur ylides. With this protocol, a collection of 3,3-spiro[β-lactam]-oxindoles were facilely produced. The research was published in Organic Letters (a Nature Index journal with an impact factor of 6.09) of the American Chemical Society with the title "Diastereoselective [3 + 1] Cyclization Reaction of Oxindolyl Azaoxyallyl Cations with Sulfur Ylides: Assembly of 3,3′-Spiro[β-lactam]-oxindoles".
The benzo[b]azepine skeleton is biologically active as it exists widely in benazepril, epinastine and other bioactive substances. The author described a Lewis acid-promoted [6 + 1] cyclization for producing a novel type of benzo[b]azepines with a 99% absorption rate. The research was recently published in Organic Letters with the title "Construction of a Benzo[b]azepine Skeleton through Decarboxylative Ylide [6+1] Annulations with Modified Vinyl Benzoxazinanones".
Dr. Li's research group also reported a palladium-catalyzed regioselective [5 + n] cyclization between vinylethylene carbonates and various anhydrides, realizing the efficient construction of medium-sized lactones. The research was published in Chemical Communications (a Nature Index journal with an impact factor of 6.00) of the Royal Society of Chemistry with the title "Palladium-catalysed Cyclisation of Vinylethylene Carbonates and Anhydrides: A New Approach to Diverse Medium-sized Bislactones".
The above achievements have been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Special Project for Major New Drug Creation, and the Science and Technology Program of Sichuan Province.
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Dr. Li Junlong is a distinguished researcher who obtained his Ph.D. at West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University in 2013. In the same year, with the support of Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, he went to the Organic Chemistry Institute of Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany to pursue his postdoctoral degree and studied with Professor Frank Glorius, a famous German chemist. He has presided over projects of the Young Scientists Fund and General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, projects supported by the Open Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and projects of the Introduced Talent Research Start-up Program of Chengdu University. He has published over 30 high-level SCI papers as the first author or correspondent author, with relevant results published in famous academic journals at home and abroad such as Chem. Soc. Rev., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., ACS Catal., Green Chem., Chem. Sci., Org. Lett., Chem. Commun., and Org. Chem. Front.
