Ring-opening polymerization (ROP) is a powerful synthetic methodology for the chemical synthesis of technologically important biodegradable aliphatic polyesters from cyclic esters or lactones. However, the bioderived five-membered γ-butyrolactone (γ-BL) is commonly referred as 'non-polymerizable' because of its low strain energy. The chemical synthesis of poly(γ-butyrolactone) (PγBL) through th...

γ-Ethyl-γ-phenyl-butyrolactone (EFBL) is a structural combination of the anticonvulsant γ-hydroxy-γ-ethyl-γ-phenylbutyramide (HEPB) and the hypnotic γ-butyrolactone (GBL), which inherits both properties. To clarify its mechanism of action, the effects of EFBL, GBL and HEPB on dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA) brain levels were investigated. Influences of chlorpromazine, phenelzine and aminoo...

A new, highly enantio- and diastereoselective catalytic asymmetric formal cycloaddition of aryl succinic anhydrides and aldehydes which generates paraconic acid (γ-butyrolactone) derivatives is reported.

A novel series of diphenylbutylpiperidines as autophagy inducers was described and extensive SAR studies resulted in derivatives (15d-e, 15i-j) with 10-fold greater activity than the lead compounds 1 and 2. Meanwhile, a new synthetic route to diphenylbutyl bromide (6) from bromobenzene and γ-butyrolactone was also reported here.

We report a concise synthesis of A-factor, the prototypical γ-butyrolactone signalling compound of Streptomyces bacteria. In analogy to enzymatic reactions in A-factor biosynthesis, our synthesis features a tandem esterification-Knoevenagel condensation yielding a 2-acyl butenolide and a surprising, chemoselective conjugate reduction of this α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound using sodium cyanob...