A-Lactones synthesis

Lactones whose rings are three or four membered (a lactones and p lactones) are very reactive making their isolation difficult Special methods are normally required for the laboratory synthesis of small ring lactones as well as those that contain rings larger than SIX membered... 

Note that this method does not work on simple esters. In addition, TMSOCH2CH2OTMS/TMSOTF has been used to effect this conversion.The same process was used to introduce the cyclohexyl version of this ortho ester in a quassinoid synthesis. Its cleavage was effected with DDQ in aqueous acetone.(R,R)-2,3-Butanediol can be used to resolve the lactone. 

Node and Fuji have developed a new chiral synthesis of various alkaloids using chiral nitroalkene, fS -( - -3-methyl-3-( 3 -nitrovinyl -o-valerolactone Scheme 8 11 shows a total synthesis of f-i-physosdgmine, a principM alkriloid of the CMabar bean The key nitroalkene is prepared by asymmetric nitroolefinadon of ct-methyl-o-lactone using a chirM enamine fsee... 

The use of an ester as an anion-stabilizing group for a lithiated epoxide was demonstrated by Eisch and Galle (Table 5.5, Entry 11). This strategy has been extended to a,P-epoxy-y-butyrolactone 191, which could be deprotonated with LDA and trapped in situ with chlorotrimethylsilane to give 192, which was used in a total synthesis of epolactaene (Scheme 5.45) [69], The use of a lactone rather than a... 

In the synthesis of Travoprost, an antiglaucoma agent, a bicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-one is converted to a lactone.240 The commercial process uses peroxyacetic acid as the oxidant and gives a 40% yield. The regioselectivity in this case is only 3 1 but the unwanted isomer can be removed by selective hydrolysis. 

The synthesis in Scheme 13.21 starts with a lactone that is available in enantiomer-ically pure form. It was first subjected to an enolate alkylation that was stereocontrolled by the convex shape of the cis ring junction (Step A). A stereospecific Pd-mediated allylic substitution followed by LiAlH4 reduction generated the first key intermediate (Step B). This compound was oxidized with NaI04, converted to the methyl ester, and subjected to a base-catalyzed conjugation. After oxidation of the primary alcohol to an aldehyde, a Wittig-Horner olefination completed the side chain. 

Scheme 13.34. Prelog-Djerassi Lactone Synthesis P. A. Grieco and Co-Workersa...

Scheme 13.47. Prelog-Djerassi Lactone Synthesis R. A. Pilli and Co-Workers3...

A recent synthesis of P-D lactone (Scheme 13.51) used an enantioselective catalytic approach. A conjugate addition of a silyl ketene acetal derived from an unsaturated ester gave an unsaturated lactone intermediate. The catalyst is CuF-(S )-tol-BINAP.30 The catalytic cycle for the reaction is shown below. 

The hydrogenolysis proceeds usually with inversion on Pd. This ability of Pd was used for stereospecific hydrogenation of a lactone during the synthesis of a phenyl kainoid on 10% Pd(OH2)/C in AcOEt at 40°C (Scheme 4.44).214... 

Fiandanese and coworkers [103] described a new approach for the synthesis of the butenolides xerulin (6/1-207) and dihydroxerulin (6/1-208), which are of interest as potent noncytotoxic inhibitors of the biosynthesis of cholesterol (Scheme 6/1.53). The key transformation is a Pd°-catalyzed Sonogashira/addition process of 6/1-204 or 6/1-206 with (Z)-3-iodo-2-propenoic acid 6/1-205, which is followed by the formation of a lactone to give 6/1-207 and 6/1-208, respectively. 

As discussed in Chapter 9, various nucleophiles can be introduced at the ortho position of nitroarenes via the VNS process. This provides a useful strategy for the synthesis of indoles. One of the most attractive and general methods of indoles and indolinones would be the reductive cyclization of a-nitroaryl carbonyl compounds (Eq. 10.54). The VNS and related reactions afford a-nitroaryl carbonyl compounds by a simple procedure. For example, alkylation of 4-fluoronitrobenzene with a lactone silyl enol ether followed by reductive cyclization leads to tryptophols (Eq. 10.55).73... 

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