Cadmium complexes corrins

The total synthesis of vitamin Bn is arguably the most difficult challenge so far presented to synthetic organic chemists. It is therefore surprising that the application of a photocyclization reaction to a solution of this problem has escaped the attention of photochemistry reviewers. Irradiation of the optically active seco-corrin cadmium complex (120) in methanol gave the corrin (121), isolated as its Co complex, with a stereoselectivity of 95% (Scheme 38). Model... 

The cadmium secocorrinoid carboxylic acid (102 M = Cd) also undergoes photocyclization to the acid (103 M = Cd), which on transmetallation to the nickel(II) complex (103 M = Ni) and treatment with triethylamine and acetic acid yields the parent corrin complex (100 M = Ni).268 The decarboxylation process is extremely facile. A related base-catalyzed cyclization of the secocorrinoid aldehyde (104) gives the corrin complex (105), which can be decarbonylated to the parent complex (100 M = Ni) by treatment with potassium hydroxide (Scheme 66).268... 

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