Condensation/hydride reduction sequence

Scheme 70 Condensation/hydride reduction sequence to key fragments of (+)-SCH 351448 [128]...

MISCELLANEOUS BENZOHETEROCYCLES Partial reduction of lactone 166 (using for example diisobutylaluminum hydride in the cold) affords lactol 167. Condensation with nitromethane leads to the corresponding alkylated tetrahydrobenzopyran 170. The sequence probably starts by aldol reaction of the hydroxylactone form of the lactol (168) with nitrome thane to give the vinyl nitro intermediate 169 ... 

They are both chrysanthemic acid esters of (5-benzylfuran-3-yl)methanol (Elliott alcohol, 1) [15]. Patented methods [16] for the industrial preparation of Elliotf s alcohol are demanding or such as to be hardly exploited in industrial-scale plants. For instance, in one of these methods [17] (5-benzyl-3-furyl)methanol is obtained by a sequence of Claisen condensation of benzyl cyanide and a dialkyl succinate, hydrolysis, esterification, protection of the ketone group, formylation, cyclization to 5-benzyl-3-furfuryl ester and reduction to alcohol with lithium aluminium hydride. 

These two milestone syntheses were soon followed by others, and activity in this field continued to be driven by interest in the biologically active esters of cephalotaxine. In 1986, Hanaoka et al. (27) reported the stereoselective synthesis of ( )-cephalotaxine and its analog, as shown in Scheme 4. The amide acid 52, prepared by condensation of ethyl prolinate with 3,4-dimethoxyphenylacetyl chloride, followed by hydrolysis of the ethyl ester, was cyclized to the pyrrolobenzazepine 53 by treatment with polyphos-phoric acid, followed by selective O-alkylation with 2,3-dichloropropene (54) in the presence of sodium hydride. The resulting enol ether 55 underwent Claisen rearrangement on heating to provide C-allylated compound 56, whose reduction with sodium borohydride yielded the alcohol, which on treatment with 90% sulfuric acid underwent cationic cyclization to give the tetracyclic ketone 57. Presumably, this sequence represents the intramolecular version of the Wichterle reaction. On treatment with boron tribromide, ketone 57 afforded the free catechol, which was reacted with dibromometh-ane and potassium fluoride to give methylenedioxy derivative 58, suited for the final transformations to cephalotaxine. Oxidation of ketone 58... 

Fig. 3. Generic reaction sequence for the FASs. ACP, acyl carrier protein AT, acetyltransferase MT, malonyl transferase KS, P-ketoacyl synthase KR, P-ketoacyl reductase DH, dehydrase ER, enoyl reductase TE, thioesterase FT, palmitoyl transferase. In the animal FAS the acetyl and malonyl loading reactions are catalyzed by the same acyl transferase and the chain-termination reaction is catalyzed by a thioesterase. In the fungal FAS, the malonyl loading and palmitoyl unloading reactions are catalyzed by the same acyl transferase. Stereochemical analyses in the laboratories of Comforth and Hammes established that in both animal and fungal FASs the KS-catalyzed condensation reaction proceeds with inversion of configuration at the malonyl C2 position, followed by KR-catalyzed reduction of the 3-keto moiety to the 3R alcohol by transfer of the pro-4S hydride from NADPH, and DH-catalyzed dehydration to a trans-enoyl moiety by the syn elimination of the 2S hydrogen and the 3/f hydroxyl as water. However, the stereochemistry of the final reduction reaction catalyzed by ER domain proceeds with different stereochemistry. The animal FAS transfers the pro-4R hydride of NADPH to the pro-3/f position with simultaneous addition of a solvent proton to the pro-2S position, whereas the fungal FAS takes the pro-4S hydride of NADPH into the pro-3S position and the solvent proton is incorporated at the pro-25 position.

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