Aldol reactions natural product examples

The conversion of primary or secondary nitro compounds into aldehydes or ketones is normally accomplished by use of the Nef reaction, which is one of the most important transformations of nitro compounds. Various methods have been introduced forthis transformation (1) treatment of nitronates with acid, (2) oxidation of nitronates, and (3) reduction of nitroalkenes. Although a comprehensive review is available,3 important procedures and improved methods published after this review are presented in this chapter. The Nef reaction after the nitro-aldol (Henry reaction), Michael addition, or Diels-Alder reaction using nitroalkanes or nitroalkenes has been used extensively in organic synthesis of various substrates, including complicated natural products. Some of them are presented in this chapter other examples are presented in the chapters discussing the Henry reaction (Chapter 3), Michael addition (Chapter 4), and Diels-Alder reaction (Chapter 8). 

Disubstituted cyclopentane-1,3-diones and cyclohexane-1,3-diones were used as substrates. After formation of the aldol adducts subsequent intramolecular dehydration furnished products of types 94 and 96. The asymmetric intramolecular aldol reaction proceeds with a broad variety of natural amino acids as organocata-lysts. Among these L-proline was usually found to be the most versatile. For example, conversion of the 2,2-disubstituted cyclopentane-1,3-dione 93 in the presence of L-proline gave the desired product 94 in 86.6% yield and with enantioselectivity of 84% ee [97]. This example and a related reaction with a 2,2-disubstituted cyclohexane-1,3-dione 95 are shown in Scheme 6.42. Chiral induction depends... 

Fructose 1,6-biphosphate aldolase from rabbit muscle in nature reversibly catalyzes the addition of dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) to D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. The tolerance of this DHAP-dependent enzyme towards various aldehyde acceptors made it a versatile tool in the synthesis of monosaccharides and sugar analogs [188], but also of alkaloids [189] and other natural products. For example, the enzyme-mediated aldol reaction of DHAP and an aldehyde is a key step in the total synthesis of the microbial elicitor (—)-syringolide 2 (Fig. 35a) [190]. 

Catalytic, enantioselective, vinylogous aldol reactions have been reviewed, from the first report in 1994 to date.137 Many examples from natural products are given, and the remaining problems - especially the need to push beyond dienolates derived from esters - are highlighted. 

An example that illustrates the potential of this catalytic C-C bond-forming process to build up key structural subunits of natural products is shown in Scheme 2. The reaction of acetophenone with aldehyde 18 in the presence of 8 mol% catalyst 1 affords the aldol adduct 19 in 70% yield and 93% ee, which is subsequently transformed into 20, a key intermediate of the anticancer agent epothilone A [8b]. Similarly, Scheme 3, the aldol reaction of hydroxyacetylfuran 21 with valeralde-hyde in the presence of 5 mol% catalyst 3 produces syn diol 23 with high efficiency [10d]. Further chemical elaboration of 23 leads to 24, a key intermediate in the synthesis of (+)-boronolide, a folk medicine with emetic and anti-malaria activity. 

A good example is the first step in a synthesis of the natural product himalchene by Oppolzer and Snowden. Even though the ester and the aldehyde are both crowded with substituents, the aldol reaction works well with the lithium enoiate of the ester. The cyclic mechanism ensures that the enoiate adds directly to the carbonyl group of the aldehyde and not in a conjugate (Michael) fashion. 

The precise nature of the carbonyl groups determines what happens next. If R is a leaving group (OR, Cl, etc.), the tetrahedral intermediate collapses to form a ketone and the product is a 1,3-di-ketone. The synthesis of dimedone (later in this chapter) is an example of this process where an alkoxy group is the leaving group. Alternatively, if R is an alkyl or aryl group, loss of R is not an option and the cyclization is an intramolecular aldol reaction, Dehydration produces an a,P-unsaturated ketone, which is a stable final product. 

The directed aldol reaction in the presence of TiC found many applications in natural product synthesis. Equation (7) shows an example of the aldol reaction utilized in the synthesis of tautomycin [46], in which many sensitive functional groups survived the reaction conditions. The production of the depicted single isomer after the titanium-mediated aldol reaction could be rationalized in terms of the chelation-controlled (anft-Felkin) reaction path [37]. A stereochemical model has been presented for merged 1,2- and 1,3-asymmetric induction in diastereoselective Mukaiyama aldol reaction and related processes [47]. 

Mukaiyama aldol reactions are useful means of constructing complex molecules for the total synthesis of natural products. Although catalytic asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reactions have been achieved by use of a variety of chiral Lewis acids [42], no report of the use of chiral lanthanide catalysts was available until recently, despite the potency of these catalysts. Shibasaki and co-workers reported the first examples of chiral induction with chiral lanthanide complexes (Sch. 7) [43]. Catalysts prepared from lanthanide triflates and a chiral sulfonamide ligand afforded the corresponding aldol products in moderate enantiomeric excess (up to 49% ee). 

Examples of Enzymes Catalyzing the Equilibria of Natural Products with Various Aldol Donors and Various Aldehydes (the Wavy Line Indicating the C-C Bond Involved in the Reversible Aldol Reaction)... 

Examples of enzymes catalyzing the equilibria of natural products with various aldol donors and various aldehydes (the wavy line indicating the C-C bond involved in the reversibie aidoi reaction). FDP= Fnictose-1,6-diphos-phat DHAP = dihydroxyacetone phosphate, KDO=3-deoxy-D-manflo-octuiosonate, P = 03P... 

Aldol condensations of more complex aldehydes are often sufficiently slow to allow successful alkylation reactions. There are numerous examples of aldehyde enolate methylations in the field of natural product synthesis. As shown in Scheme 29, the methylation of a tricyclic aldehyde, which was employed in the synthesis of ( )-rimuene, provides an illustrative case. As expected for an exocyclic enolate intermediate such as (61), the methyl group was introduced equatorial to the six-membered ring with a high degree of stereoselectivity. a-Alkylated aldehydes may be prepared efficiently by alkylations of enamines, Schiff base anions, hydrazone anions and other methods. A discussion of this methodology is provided in Section 1.1.5. 

Aldol reactions using chiral auxiliaries are popular as the stereochemical outcome is usually highly predictable and, as such, they provide a reliable method for the incorporation of adjacent stereocenters. The oxazolidinone-based imides 36 and (ent)-36 are the most commonly employed, and these lead to syn aldol products with high levels of stereocontrol [20]. The reaction can be extended to include a variety of a-heteroatom functionality as in 37 (Scheme 9-13) [21]. Numerous examples of the use of these auxiliaries in the synthesis of polypropionate natural products have been reported. Many related auxiliaries are also available and the camphor-based sultam 38 is notable [22]. 

Outstanding selectivities are also obtained with a-chiral aldehydes, and three new stereocenters are thereby generated. These aldol reactions have been applied in synthesis of natural products [1040, 1266, 1267], A few examples are shown in Figure 6.80 [407, 1265], Modeling of related transition states has been performed by Gennari and coworkers [1268], The stereoselectivity of aldol reactions of the titanium enolates of JV-propionyloxazolidinone 5.30 (R = Me) also depends upon the reaction conditions [408,666],... 

The high syn stereoselectivity attained in zirconium enolate aldol reactions has proved useful in complex natural product synthesis. The zirconium-mediated aldol reaction of the chiral ethyl ketone (9) with a chiral aldehyde has been used by Masamune et al. to give selectively adduct (10), which was further elaborated into the ansa chain of rifamycin S (equation 1). Good enolate diastereofacial selectivity is also obtained here and leads to a predominance of one of the two possible syn adducts. A zirconium enolate aldol reaction also features in the Deslongchamps formal total synthesis of erythromycin A, where the di(cyclopentadienyl)chiorozirconium enolate from methyl propionate adds with high levels of Cram selectivity to the chiral aldehyde (11) to give the syn adduct (12 equation 2). A further example is... 

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