A protocol for synthesizing triazole-containing pyrazolines and pyrazoles selectively using trifluoromethylated 5-(1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)enones as starting materials, is reported. The selectivity of the reaction was controlled by the nature of the hydrazine or derivative used: free hydrazines furnished the 1,5-regiosiomer exclusively in yields up to 98%, whereas protected hydrazines provided the 1,3-regioisomer in yields up to 77%. To demonstrate the synthetic versatility of the triazole-based enone, reactions with other unsymmetrical dinucleophiles (hydroxylamine hydrochloride and S-methyl isothiourea sulfates) allowed the selective preparation of triazole-containing isoxazoline and pyrimidine rings.

Amino acids (AAs), important constituents of natural moisturizing factors (NMFs) of the skin are decreased in diseased conditions such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. No study so far investigated the uptake of AAs into isolated corneocytes (COR). The present study was performed using 19 AAs, including taurine (TAU), to measure their amount diffused into the COR and binding of these AAs to keratin. Incubation of alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamine, glutamic acid, histidine, proline, serine and TAU with the isolated COR showed uptake after 24 h of 51.6, 95.4, 98.6, 94.1, 95.6, 90.1, 94.6, 72.9 and 57.8 %, respectively, into the COR but no binding with keratin. Uptake of TAU was validated by time dependent in-vitro diffusion models 'without COR and 'with COR'. The time dependent curve fitting showed that in in-vitro diffusion model 'without COR' there was no change in the total concentration of TAU until 72 hours, while in diffusion model 'with COR' the total conc. decreased to 37.8 % after 72 hours. The Pearson's correlation coefficient 'r' between the conc. curves of both in-vitro diffusion models was -0.54 that was an evidence of significant amount of TAU uptake by the COR. AAs as part of the NMFs have a great potential to be diffused into the COR. This property of the AAs can be employed in further dermatological research on diseased or aged skin conditions with NMFs deficiency.

Hydnora abyssinica A.Br. (Hydnoraceae), a holoparasitic herb, is for the first time recorded for Abyan governorate of South Yemen. Flowers of this species were studied for their ethnobotanical, biological and chemical properties for the first time. In South Yemen, they are traditionally used as wild food and to cure stomach diseases, gastric ulcer and cancer. Phytochemical analysis of the extracts showed the presence of terpenes, tannins, phenols, and flavonoids. The volatile components of the air-dried powdered flowers were identified using a static headspace GC/MS analysis as acetic acid, ethyl acetate, sabinene, α-terpinene, (+)-D-limonene and γ-terpinene. These volatile compounds that characterize the odor and taste of the flowers were detected for the first time in a species of the family Hydnoraceae. The flowers were extracted by n-hexane, dichlormethane, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol and water. With exception of the water extract all extracts demonstrated activities against Gram-positive bacteria as well as remarkable radical scavenging activities in DPPH assay. Ethyl acetate, methanol and water extracts exhibited good antifungal activities. The cytotoxic activity of the extracts against FL cells, measured in neutral red assay, was only weak (IC50 > 500 μg /mL). The results justify the traditional use of the flowers of Hydnora abyssinica in South Yemen.

The ipso-substitution of one (or two) hydroxy groups of phloroglucinol with arene nucleophiles (e.g., o-xylene, tetralin, biphenyl) can be achieved easily under Friedel–Crafts-type conditions with or without the use of organic solvents affording a variety of 3,5-dihydroxybiphenyls (57–89% yields). The new method has significant practical advantages compared to classical biaryl-­coupling routes.

The substrate-controlled diastereoselective arylation of chiral aldehydes readily available from carbohydrates is described, using the boron–zinc exchange reaction to generate the transferable aryl groups. The methodology developed was applied to the total synthesis of the styryllactone (+)-7-epi-goniofufurone and analogues thereof.

Photoaffinity tags can be incorporated easily into peptoids and congeners by the Ugi and Passerini multicomponent reactions. Products related to photo-methionine and photo-leucine can be accomplished by diazirine-containing building blocks. The same protocols can be used to synthesize derivatives with benzophenone photo cross-linkers.

A set of selenoamino acids has been efficiently synthesized under smooth conditions by a simple, flexible and modular strategy. In this method, O-mesylated l-serine methyl ester is generated in situ and directly substituted with various selenolate anions to afford selenocysteine, selenolanthionine, and selenocystine derivatives in good yields. Also, a tellurocysteine derivative can be obtained by this method.

A simple, rapid, one-pot multicomponent synthesis of tryptophan-derived diketopiperazines with variable side chains is presented. Microwave radiation gives comparable yields, but allows a significant decrease in reaction times.

14-Membered ansa-cyclopeptide alkaloids are among the most abundant natural macrocycles and thus valuable templates for diversity-oriented synthesis with biological relevance. A rapid synthesis of the core structure is conceivable by a combination of an Ugi four-component reaction with bifunctional building blocks to form the dipeptoid part, followed by a suitable macrocyclization reaction. The latter step is crucial, and an uncommon macroetherification gave the best results. The use of ammonium salts allows direct access to peptides instead of peptoids. Depending on the substitution pattern, some cyclopeptoids show planar chirality despite free rotation of the phenylene group.

New chiral sulfides and disulfides were synthesized from readily available and inexpensive cysteine by straightforward methods in order to elucidate the relative importance of the various donor atoms (N, O, S) available in free or alkylated form resulting in covalent or dative bonds to the metal, respectively. Their application in the addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes provides secondary alcohols with up to 99% ee, and S-configuration, when catalytic amounts of disulfide ligands with the ability to form an S-Zn bond were used. In contrast to this, benzyl alcohols with the opposite absolute configuration R could be achieved, albeit with decreased yield and enantioselectivity, by the use of alkylated sulfide ligands.