Azide/alcohol coupling

The acyl-azide method of coupling (Figure 2.13) has been available for about a century, but it is not attractive for routine use because it involves four distinct steps that include two stable intermediates that require purification. In addition, aminolysis of the azide is slow. The first step involves preparation of the ester (see Section 3.17), which can be methyl, ethyl, or benzyl. The ester is converted to the hydrazide by reaction in alcohol with excess hydrazine at ambient or higher... 

With both building blocks 103 and 109 in hand, the total synthesis of lb was completed as shown in Scheme 17. Coupling of acid 103 and alcohol 109 under Yamaguchi conditions to give ester 110 and subsequent desilylation followed by chemoselective oxidation provided hydroxy acid 111. Lactonization of the 2-thiopyridyl ester derived from 111 in the presence of cupric bromide produced the macrodiolide 112 in 62% yield, which was finally converted to pamamycin-607 (lb) via one-pot azide reduction/double reductive AT-methylation. In summary, 36 steps were necessary to accomplish the synthesis of lb from alcohols 88 and 104, sulfone 91, ketone 93, and iodide rac-97. 

Amides generally are formed from acid chlorides, acid azides, acid anhydrides, and esters. It is not practical to prepare them directly from an amine and a carboxylic acid without strong heating or unless the reaction is coupled to a second reaction that activates the acid (see Exercise 15-25). Notice that esters of phenols are more reactive toward amines than esters of alcohols because phenols are stronger acids than alcohols. 

The enantioselective synthesis (51) of the side chain 30 of taxol had been achieved by way of stereospecific Sharpless epoxidation of cij-cinnamyl alcohol (29a), giving 29b (see Scheme 6). Following oxidation of the alcohol group, protection of the resulting carboxylic acid, regioselective opening of the epoxide with azide, benzoylation, and reduction, a suitably substituted moiety (28) was available which, after protection and deprotection of the acid function to form 30, was coupled to baccatin III. 

The dipolar cycloaddition of an alkyl azide with an alkene to form an aziridine has been exploited in the total synthesis of the alkaloid ( )-aspidospermidine <20050BC213>. Enone 353 was prepared in 11 steps from 3-ethoxycyclohexenone and coupled to 2-iodo nitrobenzene under Ullman cross-coupling conditions. The acetate group of 354 was hydrolyzed and the resulting alcohol converted to an azide using standard conditions in 75% overall yield. The cycloaddition of the azide with the enone was conducted in refluxing benzene for 3 days. The fused-ring aziridine 355 was the only product isolated. None of the initial dipolar cycloadduct triazoline was observed. The... 

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