Capnellenes

The silyl enol ethers 209 and 212 are considered to be sources of carbanions. and their transmetallation with Pd(OAc)2 forms the Pd enolate 210. or o.w-tt-allylpalladium, which undergoes the intramolecular alkene insertion and. 1-elimination to give 3-methylcyclopentenone (211) and a bicyclic system 213[199], Five- and six-membered rings can be prepared by this reaction[200]. Use of benzoquinone makes the reaction catalytic. The reaction has been used for syntheses of skeletons of natural products, such as the phyllocladine intermediate 214[201], capnellene[202], the stemodin intermediate 215[203] and hir-sutene [204]. 

The reaction of alkenyl iodides or triflates, alkenylstannanes, and CO affords divinyl ketones[397,398]. Thus the capnellene skeleton 538 has been synthesized by the carbonylation of the cyclopentenyl triflate 536 with the alkenyltin 537[392], The macrocyclic divinyl ketone 540 has been prepared in a moderate yield by the carbonylative cyclization of 539[399]. 

On the basis of the examples addressed thus far, it is clear that radical reactions can accomplish manifold transformations in organic synthesis. One of the outstanding achievements of synthetic radical chemistry is the development of synthetic strategies based on controlled, tandem radical cyclizations. The efficiency of such strategies is exemplified in the substantial and elegant synthetic work of D. P. Curran and his group.54 The remainder of this chapter will address the concise total syntheses of ( )-hirsutene [( )-1]55 and ( )-A9(12)-capnellene [( )-2]56 by the Curran group. 

Curran s synthesis of ( )-A9(l2)-capnellene [( )-2] is detailed in Schemes 30 and 31. This synthesis commences with the preparation of racemic bicyclic vinyl lactone 147 from ( )-norbomenone [( )-145] by a well-known route.61 Thus, Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of (+)-145 provides unsaturated bicyclic lactone 146, a compound that can be converted to the isomeric fused bicyclic lactone 147 by acid-catalyzed rearrangement. Reaction of 147 with methylmagne-sium bromide/CuBr SMe2 in THF at -20 °C takes the desired course and affords unsaturated carboxylic acid 148 in nearly quantitative yield. Iodolactonization of 148 to 149, followed by base-induced elimination, then provides the methyl-substituted bicyclic vinyl lactone 150 as a single regioisomer in 66% overall yield from 147. 

Scheme 30. Curran s synthesis of ( )-A9<12,-capnellene [( )-2] construction of intermediate 155.

In a typical example of aliphatic cyclizations, already discussed in Section 5.2, the enamine 675 is alkylated by silylated methyl 4-chloroacetoacetate 747 a [2] to give, via 760 and subsequent ehmination of pyrrolidine, the unsaturated bicycHc /9-ke-toester 761 in, as yet, only 30-40% yield [1]. Analogously, the bicycHc system 1408 with an additional 6-keto group is silylated to 1409 and cyclized via 1410, in an overall yield of 42%, to the tricyclic capnellene intermediate 1411 [3] (Scheme 9.1). An alternative synthesis of bicyclic compounds Hke 761 is given elsewhere [3 a]. 

The synthesis of other angularly fused triquinanes as well as linearly fused sesquiterpenes such as hirsutene and capnellene quickly followed. Many general methods for the synthesis of cyclopentanoid natural products emerged as a result of the target-oriented effort [6]. These accomplishments have been reviewed extensively on numerous occasions [7]. This chapter reviews the history of retigeranic acid from its isolation and structure determination to published approaches to its synthesis and the four total syntheses accomplished to date. 

Pattenden also made use of this strategy to synthesize A8<9)-capnellene 20). 

Two marine natural products, capnellene diol (129) and isoamijiol (130), were viewed as ideal candidates upon which to explore these ideas [55]. As illustrated, both of these materials incorporate a bridgehead hydroxyl group and an exocyclic carbon-carbon /i-bond, subunits which are produced as a natural consequence of the methodology. 

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