Butenolides methyl

The final ring coupling reaction is usually an O-alkylation of the sodium enolate with a methyl sulfonate-, bromo-, or chloro-butenolide in acetonitrile or an ether solvent (8.22-24). Use of the methyl sulfonate derivative is least preferred because of its poor stability (9,24). The isolated hydroxymethylene lactone can be allowed to react with the bromobutenolide using potassium carbonate in hexamethylphosphoric triamide (caution a potential carcinogen). 

The reaction of 1,2-allenyl sulfoxides with sodium malonate also afforded 2-[bis (methoxycarbonyl)methyl]-2-alkenyl sulfoxides 177, which upon further transformation would provide an efficient access to butenolide derivatives 180 [90, 91]. 

Pentalenolactone E methyl ester (46), an angularly fused sesquiterpene lactone, was first isolated and characterized by Cane and Rossi [38]. One approach to the synthesis of this material is illustrated in Scheme 5. Key to the successful implementation of the plan is the synthesis of butenolide 49, the electrochemi-cally promoted cyclization of 49 to the tricyclic y-lactone 48, ring opening of the latter to convert the linearly fused system to the angularly fused six-membered ring lactone 47, and functional group elaboration leading to the natural product 46 [36,37]. 

Examples are known of hydrocoupling between methyl acrylate and ketones in both protic and aprotic solvents. Reaction in acid solution is thought to involve reduction of the protonated ketoneto a radical, which adds to acrylate. In aprotic solvents, the ketone is more difficult to reduce and electron addition occurs on methyl acrylate. Modest yields of coupling product, dimethylbutanolide, are obtained from acetone and methyl acrylate in dimethylformamide [134]. Better results are obtained by reduction of methyl acrylate and an exces of the carbonyl compound in dimethyIformamide in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane [135]. This process is useful for the synthesis of butenolides and some examples are given in Table 3.8. 

Tetrahydropyrrolo[4,3-. ]pyridines can be synthesized from 5,5-dimethyltetramic acid, 84, in a sequence of steps that begins with aryl aldehydes to generate arylmethylene-substituted tetramic acids. A Michael reaction with methyl acetoacetate followed by treatment with ammonium acetate yields the tetrahydropyrrolopyridine derivatives (Scheme 20) <2005H(65)377>. A similar reaction can be carried out with aroyl-substituted butenolides to give substituted furopyridine derivatives. 

In a laboratory-scale synthesis of rofecoxib (2), a ruthenium-catalyzed lactonization of diarylacetylene 19 gave rise to 2 regioselectively (Scheme 4)." Diarylacetylene 19, on the other hand, was prepared by utilizing a Castro-Stephens reaction of p-iodophenyl methyl sulfone and copper(I) phenylacetylene in pyridine under reflux. In another case, Fallis and coworkers synthesized butenolide in 2 using a magnesium-mediated carbometallation reaction. Therefore, treatment of... 

Methoxy-2-furylcarbinols (367) were converted into a 3 1 mixture of 4-ylidene-butenolides (369) and 4-oxo-2-enoic acid methyl esters (370) by zinc chloride catalysis. The carbonium ion (368) is the key intermediate, the stability of which made the conversion very fast, providing high yields (Scheme 99) (80T3071). 

Fused ring 7-lactones may also be formed by cyclizations of l-cycloalkeneacetic acids under equilibrating conditions. Nicolaou obtained evidence for the presence of an unstable -lactone in the phenyl-selenolactonization of 1-cyclohexeneacetic acid, but rearrangement occured readily at room temperature to the more stable 7-lactone (equation 12).32 An example of a one-step conversion of a 2-methyl-1-cyclohexeneacetic acid to a fused butenolide by use of diphenyldiselenide and electrochemical oxidation has been reported.47 Recent studies by Rutledge showed that simultaneous addition of bromine and thallium carbonate to 1-cyclohexeneacetic acid gave the 7-lactone as the exclusive product (compare to Table 2) however, the mechanism of this reaction may differ from other cyclofunctionalizations.21... 

Stabilized carbocations. Acetals or ortho esters are converted by BF3 etherate into methoxy-stabilized carbocations that react readily with methyl 5-lithiotetronates (butenolides).2... 

Alkenes from 1,2-diols (7, 385-386). An efficient synthesis of (S)-(—)-y-methoxymethyl-a, /J-butenolide (3) from (+)-5-0-methyl-D-ribonolactone (1) involves conversion to the cyclic orthoformate 2 followed by pyrolysis to give 3 in 66.5% overall yield.1 In this case, the Corey-Winter reaction and the Hanessian route (8,192) were... 

The synthesis was initiated with the stereoselective introduction of two methyl groups onto the tritylated butenolide 1 to give the dimethylated lactone 2 (67%) along with the C-2 epimer (13%). As this stereocenter will be lost in the Stork annulation vide post), both epimers could be used in the total synthesis of 12. Their structures were confirmed by the NOE enhancement in 2. After detritylation, the resulting alcohol was transformed to the dimethyl acetal 3. Reaction with the lithiated MeS02Ph gave the lactol 4, which was silylated to the open chain having the enol silyl ether 5 (91%). These reactions seem to depend on the readiness of the enol silyl ether formation. 

---