Crystal and Molecular Structures of New Chromone Derivatives as Empirical Evidence of Intramolecular Proton Transfer Reaction; Ab Initio Studies on Intramolecular H-Bonds in Enaminones

The crystal and molecular structures of two new phosphorochromones determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction are presented. The existence of two tautomers stabilized by intramolecular N−H···O and O−H···N hydrogen bonds and environmental effects in crystals is observed as evidence of the proton transfer reaction. The proton transfer process within simple enaminones being analogues of the compounds studied by X-ray diffraction methods is investigated usingMP2/6-311++G** and MP4/6-311++G** levels of theory. The Bader theory is also applied in the analysis of the hydrogen bonding within investigated systems. The results indicate that the systems with N−H···O intramolecular hydrogen bonds are more stable than those containing O−H···N bonds

Cyclic side-chain-linked opioid analogs utilizing cis- and trans-4-aminocyclohexyl-d-alanine

Cyclization of linear sequences is a well recognized tool in opioid peptide chemistry for generating analogs with improved bioactivities. Cyclization can be achieved through various bridging bonds between peptide ends or side-chains. In our earlier paper we have reported the synthesis and biological activity of a cyclic peptide, Tyr-c[D-Lys-Phe-Phe-Asp]NH2 (1), which can be viewed as an analog of endomorphin-2 (EM-2, Tyr-Pro-Phe-Phe-NH2). Cyclization was achieved through an amide bond between side-chains of D-Lys and Asp residues. Here, to increase rigidity of the cyclic structure, we replaced d-Lys with cis- or trans-4-aminocyclohexyl-D-alanine (D-ACAla). Two sets of analogs incorporating either Tyr or Dmt (2',6'-dimethyltyrosine) residues in position 1 were synthesized. In the binding studies the analog incorporating Dmt and trans-D-ACAla showed high affinity for both, \u3bc- and \u3b4-opioid receptors (MOR and DOR, respectively) and moderate affinity for the \u3ba-opioid receptor (KOR), while analog with Dmt and cis-D-ACAla was exceptionally MOR-selective. Conformational analyses by NMR and molecular docking studies have been performed to investigate the molecular structural features responsible for the noteworthy MOR selectivity