Total synthesis and biological evaluation of spirotryprostatin A analogs

Based on the spirotryprostatin A structure, a series of compounds belonging to spiro-indolyl diketopiperazine structural class were designed and synthesized, which embody an oxindole with an all-carbon quaternary stereocenter. The total synthesis can efficiently be accessed in a seven-step reaction sequence with 18-28% overall yield from commercially available materials, and a highly enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, N-acylation of the resulting stereochemically complex spiro[pyrrolidin-3,3'-oxindole]s core with Fmoc-L-pro-Cl and spontaneous ring closure upon N-deprotection were obtained. The synthesized compounds 13a-e and 15a-e were evaluated for their antibacterial activities. The result showed that compounds 13b and 15b were active only against Gram-positive bacteria, and selective antibacterial activity was exhibited by compounds 13d and 13e against Streptococcus lactis. Further, all the remaining compounds showed a certain degree of antibacterial activity. In addition, the structure-activity relationship is also discussed.