Alkenes natural product synthesis

The cyclization to form very congested quaternary carbon centers involving the intramolecular insertion of di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted alkenes is particularly useful for natural products synthesis[l36-138], In the total synthesis of gelsemine, the cyclization of 166 has been carried out, in which very severe steric hindrance is e.xpected. Interestingly, one stereoisomer 167... 

Although oxidation in general and of alkenes in particular is very well documented, it is rather surprising that there has been no systematic description of the oxidation of dienes or polyenes in the literature. In fact, more often than not an early literature example of the oxidation of a diene will be part of or an extension of a report dealing with the oxidation of monoalkenes. Only in recent years has oxidative functionalization of di- and polyenes become an important procedure in itself in fields such as natural product synthesis. 

Snider and colleagues have developed the sequential ene reaction/thia-[2,3]-Wittig reaction which provide appropriately functionalized product 152 at allylic position on simple alkene 150 in two steps involving intermediate 151 (equation 87) . Thia-[2,3]-Wittig rearrangement was often utilized as a key step of natural product synthesis. Masaki and colleagues have demonstrated that the potassium enolate thia-[2,3]-rearrangement of aUyl sulfide 153 to 154 is useful for the synthesis of terpenoid diol component 155 of the pheromonal secretion of the queen butterfly (equation 88) . 

However, from the outset of this field, the limitations as well as the potentials of this cycloaddition were also apparent. For instance, the efficiency of this cycloaddition in an intermolecular manner was typically low unless strained olefins were used. Moreover, the use of unsymmetrical alkenes led to a mixture of the cyclopentenone regioisomers. Synthetic utility of this reaction is considerably expanded by the emergency of the intramolecular reaction. Schore introduced the first intramolecular version forming several rings simultaneously, which is now the most popular synthetic strategy in natural product synthesis because of its conceptual and operational simplicity. Additionally, the regiochemistry is no longer the problem in this variation. 

It is interesting to note that the oxa-analogous Michael addition was reported for the first time in 1878 by Loydl et al. [19] in their work on the synthesis of artificial malic acid, which was five years ahead of the discovery of the actual Michael reaction described first by Komnenos [20], Claisen [21], and later Michael in 1887 [22] as one of the most important methods for C—C bond formation. In continuation of the early work on the oxa-Michael addition [23], the inter- and intramolecular additions of alkoxides to enantiopure Michael acceptors has been investigated, leading to the diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of the corresponding Michael adducts [24]. The intramolecular reaction has often been used as a key step in natural product synthesis, for example as by Nicolaou et al. in the synthesis of Brevetoxin B in 1989 [25]. The addition of oxygen nucleophiles to nitro-alkenes was described by Barrett et al. [26], Kamimura et al. [27], and Brade and Vasella [28]. 

The Heck reaction of 1,3 -diene systems via 7r-allylpalladium is also useful. This cyclization, which forms very congested quaternary carbon centers involving the intramolecular insertion of di-, tri- and tetrasubstituted alkenes, is particularly useful for natural products synthesis. In the synthesis of morphine, bis-cyclization of the octahydroisoquninoline precursor 112 by the intramolecular Heck reaction proceeded using palladium trifluoroacetate and 1,2,2,6,6-pentamethylpiperidine (PMP). The insertion of the diene system forms the 7i-allylpalladium intermediate 113, which attacks the phenol intramolecularly to form the benzofuran ring 114. Based on this method, the elegant total syntheses of (—)- and (+)-dihydrocodeinone, and (—)- and (+)-morphine (115) have been achieved [50],... 

In summary, alkyne metathesis seems about to become one of the key reactions frequently employed in the synthesis of increasingly complex natural products. Recently, Trost et al. and Fiirstner et al. reported new hydrosilylation protocols for the convenient, chemoselective transformation of alkynes to E alkenes which will extend the value of alkyne metathesis for natural product synthesis [32],... 

Osmium-catalysed dihydroxylation of olefins is a powerful route towards enantioselective introduction of chiral centers into organic substrates [82]. Its importance is remarkable because of its common use in organic and natural product synthesis, due to its ability to introduce two vicinal functional groups into hydrocarbons with no functional groups [83]. Prof. Sharpless received the 2001 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his development of asymmetric catalytic oxidation reactions of alkenes, including his outstanding achievements in the osmium asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins. 

Cycloaddition reactions of pyrylium salts with alkenes continue to be explored in the context of natural products synthesis, as shown in Schemes 12-14. In the example shown in Scheme 12, a pyrylium-ylide [5+2] cycloaddition was performed (128—> 129), allowing access to intermediates reminiscent of the core framework of the diterpene antibiotic, guanacastepene <2001TL4947>. 

Chappell, D. and Russell, A.T. (2006) From a-cedrene to crinipellin B and onward 25 years of the alkene-arene meta-photocycloaddition reaction in natural product synthesis. Organic tg Biomolecular Chemistry, 4 (24), 4409-4430. 

Ruthenium is not an effective catalyst in many catalytic reactions however, it is becoming one of the most novel and promising metals with respect to organic synthesis. The recent discovery of C-H bond activation reactions [38] and alkene metathesis reactions [54] catalyzed by ruthenium complexes has had a significant impact on organic chemistry as well as other chemically related fields, such as natural product synthesis, polymer science, and material sciences. Similarly, carbonylation reactions catalyzed by ruthenium complexes have also been extensively developed. Compared with other transition-metal-catalyzed carbonylation reactions, ruthenium complexes are known to catalyze a few carbonylation reactions, such as hydroformylation or the reductive carbonylation of nitro compounds. In the last 10 years, a number of new carbonylation reactions have been discovered, as described in this chapter. We ex-... 

In the presence of oxygen as reoxidant, Pd(OAc)2 catalyzes intramolecular alkenylation of silyl enolates with alkenes (Equation (86)). This cycloalkenylation is quite useful for natural product synthesis. 

Although several aspects of alkene metathesis need further improvement or remain to be solved, there is no doubt that this transformation has a profound impact on all sub-disciplines of modern organic chemistry and will continue to shape preparative carbohydrate chemistry and natural product synthesis in the future. 

Sufficient information about the reaction has been gathered to allow fairly accurate predictions of yield as well as of stereo- and regioselectivity.176177 The reaction proceeds via the formation of hexacarbonylalkyne-dicobalt complexes and is remarkably tolerant of functional groups in both the alkyne and the alkene. The intramolecular Pauson-Khand reaction is an effective way of preparing bi- and polycyclic systems, and the cyclization of 1,6-heptenyne derivatives to give bicyclo[3.3.0]oct-l-en-3-ones has been the most popular application of the Pauson-Khand reaction in natural product synthesis [Eq. (17)]. 

Metal enolates have played a Umited role in the metal-catalyzed isomerization of al-kenes . As illustrated in a comprehensive review by Bouwman and coworkers, ruthenium complex Ru(acac)3 (51) has been used to isomerize a wide range of substituted double bonds, including aUylic alcohols (131), to the corresponding ketones (132) (equation 38) . The isomerization of aUylic alcohols affords products that have useful applications in natural product synthesis and in bulk chemical processes. An elegant review by Fogg and dos Santos shows how these complexes can be used in tandem catalysis, where an alkene is subjected to an initial isomerization followed by a hydroformylation reaction ... 

The reactions of 3-methyl-2-selenoxobenzothiazole 46 with oxiranes and thiiranes to give alkenes via seleniranes was reviewed <1996CHEC-II(1)259>. This reaction has been applied to natural product synthesis for the conversion of 47 to 48 shown in Scheme 8 <1996TL8937>. 

An interesting application of the asymmetric alkoxyselenenylation of alkenes to natural product synthesis was reported recently by Wirth, who described a short procedure to obtain some furofuran lignans 147]. The total synthesis of (+)-Samin 53 [47 a] is shown in Scheme 7. The protected allylic alcohol 50 was treated with the selenyl triflate derived from diselenide 29 in the presence of 2,3-butadien-l-ol, and afforded the addition product 51 in 55% yield and with a diastereomeric ratio of 15 1. The favored 5-exo-trig radical cyclization of the major isomer afforded the tetrahydrofuran derivative 52 from which the final product was obtained through few classical steps. 

Typically, nonstabilized ylides are utilized for the synthesis of (Z)-alkenes. In 1986, Schlosser published a paper summarizing the factors that enhance (Z)-selectivity. Salt effects have historically been defined as the response to the presence of soluble lithium salts. Any soluble salt will compromise the (Z)-selectivity of the reaction, and typically this issue has been resolved by the use of sodium amide or sodium or potassium hexamethyldisilazane (NaHMDS or KHMDS) as the base. Solvent effects are also vital to the stereoselectivity. In general, ethereal solvents such as THF, diethyl ether, DME and t-butyl methyl ether are the solvents of choice." In cases where competitive enolate fomnation is problematic, toluene may be utilized. Protic solvents, such as alcohols, as well as DMSO, should be avoided in attempts to maximize (Z)-selectivity. Finally, the dropwise addition of the carbonyl to the ylide should be carried out at low temperature (-78 C). Recent applications of phosphonium ylides in natural product synthesis have been extensively reviewed by Maryanoff and Reitz. 

This reaction has been utilized in the context of natural product synthesis. A recent example is the synthesis of colletodiol by Keck, shown in equation (45). In this example, no problems were encountoed with epimerization or ester cleavage. The desireid ( )-ester (182) was synttesized in 80% yield. Two examples are outlined (in equations 46 and 47) in which epimerization was a substantial problem with sodium or potassium salts, while the LiCl/amine method effectively suppressed this side reaction. When the phosphonate was allowed to react with the cyclohexanal derivative (183), the sodium salt gave epi-merized material. Use of LiCl and diisopropylethylamine gave an 88% yield of alkene (184), free of epimer (equation 46). In the synthesis of norsecurinine, Heathcock found that the phosphonate anion... 

These four examples of the successful application of the Julia coupling in natural product synthesis indicate the sensitivity of various substrates to the anionic conditions. The solutions, interchanging the aldehyde and sulfone portions, modification of the substrate or altering the reductive elimination conditions, are all techniques that can enable the successful use of the Julia coupling for ( )-alkene synthesis. 

The aprotic Bamford-Stevens reaction has been utilized for the development of a methodology towards 1,2-carbonyl transposition in natural product synthesis. The example in Scheme 8 illustrates the regiocontrolled alkene formation for the synthesis of hirsutic acid. ... 

The original Shapiro reaction involves the preparation of unfiinctionalized alkenes from ketone tosyl-hydrazones by quenching of the in situ generated alkenyllithium reagents with water. Recent applications of this reaction in natural product synthesis include the synthesis of 9(0)-methanoprostacyclin (Scheme 12), the in vitro conversion of humulene to A ( -capnellene (Scheme 13), the synthesis of die basic skeleton of isoadsirene (equation S2) ° and the total synthesis of the eudesmanolides rothin A and rothin B (equation 53). ... 

---