Benzyl protection with

Ni prior to use by refluxing it for 3 h with acetone, in order to suppress hydrogenolysis of the benzylic protecting groups (51). 

On the other hand, addition of methylmagnesium bromide, as well as (triisopropoxy)methyl-titanium, to the O-benzyl-protected analog 4 proceeds with the facial stereoselection predicted by Cram s open-chain model, although the selectivities are very low72. 

C—X) for the application at hand. Benzyl trans-l,3-butadiene-l-carbamate has the amino group protected with the benzyloxycar-bonyl group. The ability to remove this functionality by catalytic... 

In a few cases, the synthesis was directed towards well-defined oligomers (dimers, trimers, etc.). The synthesis of bis(5,7,3, 4 -tetra-0-benzyl)-EC 4/1,8-dimer from 5,7,3, 4 -tetra-0-benzyl-EC and 5,7,3, 4 -tetra-0-benzyl-4-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-EC was described by Kozikowski et al. [41]. This compound exhibited the ability to inhibit the growth of several breast cancer cell fines through the induction of cell cycle arrest in the Gq/Gi phase. Analogously, procyanidin-B3, a condensed catechin dimer, has been obtained through condensation of benzylated catechin with various 4-0-alkylated flavan-3,4-diol derivatives in the presence of a Lewis acid. This reaction led to protected procyanidin-B3 and its diastereomer. In particular, octa-O-benzylated procyanidin-B3 has been produced with high levels of stereoselectivity and in excellent isolation yields [42]. 

The stereochemistry was controlled by Lewis acid-induced addition of these allylic silanes to aldehydes. The reaction of the silane with O-protected (S)-3-hydroxy-2-methylpropanal provides 15. The silane reacted with the benzyl-protected analog to provide 16. 

As seen in the retro-synthetic Scheme 5.3, intermediate 15 is useful for both routes. The choice of benzyl protection group was made based on the robust stability of benzyl phenol ethers toward most reactions and several possible avenues to remove it, although it was reported from Medicinal Chemistry that benzyl group removal via hydrogenolysis posed challenges in this compound. The choice of iodide substitution was born out of the known high reactivity of iodides in the Ullmann-type coupling reaction with alcohols and the robust stability of aryl iodides in many other common reactions. 

The ketone 15 was eventually prepared by Grignard addition to Weinreb amide 21, as shown in Scheme 5.5. The Weinreb amide 21 was prepared from p-iodobenzoic acid (20). The phenol of readily available 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde (22) was first protected with a benzyl group, then the aldehyde was converted to chloride 24 via alcohol 23 under standard conditions. Preparation of the Grignard reagent 25 from chloride 24 was initially problematic. A large proportion of the homo-coupling side product 26 was observed in THF. The use of a 3 1 mixture of toluene THF as the reaction solvent suppressed this side reaction [7]. The iodoketone 15 was isolated as a crystalline solid and this sequence was scaled up to pilot plant scale to make around 50 kg of 15. 

Benzyl esters of phosphoric acid have been employed also with success in organic synthesis. Usually palladium catalysts are used to remove the benzyl protecting group (Scheme 4.50). 

MgS04, the tetracycles 2-648 were obtained with excellent diastereoselectivity in reasonable yield. The reaction presumably starts with a condensation of the aldehydes 2-645 with the benzyl-protected amine moiety of 2-644 to give an iminium ion which can subsequently cyclize to afford the spirocyclic intermediates 2-646. A [3,3] sigmatropic Cope rearrangement then forms the nine-membered cyclic enamines 2-647 which, after protonation, act as the starting point for another indole iminium cyclization to provide the tetracycles 2-648 via 2-647. 

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