1.1- Diols cyanohydrins

Cyanoandrost-5-ene-3jS,17-diol 3-Acetate Acetic acid (385 ml) is added during a 40 min period at 10° to a stirred mixture of 60 g of 3) -liydroxy-androst-5-en-17-one acetate and 360 g of potassium cyanide in 2 liters of alcohol. The mixture is stirred for 1 hr at 10° and then for 2 hr at room temperature. After dilution with water the precipitated product is collected by filtration, washed with 3 liters of 2 % acetic acid and dried at room temperature. The yield of epimeric cyanohydrins (mp 124° dec [ajj, —93°) is essentially quantitative. 

Cholestane-3/3,5a-diol 3-acetate, 397 Cholestane-4a,5a-diol 4-tosylate, 398 Cholestane-5a,6a-diol 6-tosylate,394 5a-Cholestan-2-one, 57, 88, 427 10(5 4 H)ijAeo-Cholestan-5-one, 398 10(5 6)ij ieo-Cholestan-5-one, 392, 394 5a-Cholestan-3-one cyanohydrin, 359 5a-Cholestan-3-one cyanohydrin acetate, 360 5a-Cholestan-2a,3a-oxide, 42 5a-Cholestan-2/3,3/3-thiirane, 43 Cholest-5-ene-3, 19-diol, 268 Cholest-5-ene-3, 25-diol, 71 5(10->l/3H)flfc eo-cholest- 10(19)-ene-3/8,5a-diol 3-acetate, 397, 398 Cholest-4-ene-3,6-dione, 105 Cholest-4-en-3-one, 318 Chromium trioxide, 147, 150 5a-Conanine-3/3-ol-ll-one 3-acetate, 259 Cupric bromide, 210, 211 Cuprous chloride-catalyzed conjugate addition, 76, 80... 

Alkylations of 4-cyano-l,3-dioxanes (cyanohydrin acetonides) represent a highly practical approach to syn-l,3-diol synthesis. Herein we present a comprehensive summary of cyanohydrin acetonide chemistry, with particular emphasis on practical aspects of couplings, as well as their utility in natural product synthesis. Both 4-acetoxy-l,3-dioxanes and 4-lithio-1,3-dioxanes have emerged as interesting anri-l,3-diol synthons. The preparation and utility of these two synthons are described. 

A 1,3-diol sometimes represents a more convenient precursor to cyanohydrin acetonides. For these instances, an alternate procedure has been developed. Selective oxidation of a 1,3-diol with TEMPO/NaOCl generates a sensitive -hydroxy aldehyde (see also Sect. 3.2). The neat -hydroxy aldehyde is prone to dimerization, but can be handled in solution without significant dimerization. Conversion to the cyanohydrin acetonide is accomplished in a manner similar... 

Scheme 9). Although cyanohydrin acetonide 64 could conceivably have been used, the silyl ether 75 was chosen. This compound is readily available from (l)-malic acid, and can undergo electrophilic activation under far more mild conditions than compound 64. Alkylation of the 1,3-diol synthon 75 with bromide 76 created the C11-C26 framework of roflamycoin, in 85% yield. A two-step conversion of the terminal siloxy group to the primary iodide (78) proceeded in 80% overall yield. 

Our group has also reported that the alkylation products of 4-cyano-l,3-diox-anes can serve as substrates for radical atom transfer reactions [41]. One such example is shown below (Eq. 17). Slow addition of tributyltin hydride/AIBN to a refluxing solution of cyanohydrin 115 generated the radical nitrile transfer product 116. This method, though somewhat limited in scope, can provide access to syn-l,3-diols which maybe unstable to the vigorous Li/NHg reduction conditions. 

Axial addition to oxocarbenium ions derived from 1,3-dioxanes provides protected a f/-l,3-diols. Our group has developed 4-acetoxy-1,3-dioxanes as oxocarbenium ion precursors. This general strategy for the convergent preparation of anfz-l,3-diols complements cyanohydrin acetonide methodology, which gives access to sy -l,3-diol synthons (Sect. 2). 

New synthetic methods are the lifeblood of organic chemistry. Synthetic efforts toward natural products often provide the impetus for the development of novel methodology. Reactive synthons derived from 1,3-dioxanes have proven to be valuable intermediates for both syn- and anfz-1,3-diols found in many complex natural products. Coupling reactions at the 4-position of 1,3-dioxanes exploit anomeric effects to generate syu-1,3-diols (cyanohydrin acetonides), autz-1,3-diols (4-acetoxy-1,3-dioxanes), and either syn- or azztz-1,3-diols (4-lithio-1,3-dioxanes). In the future, as biologically active polyol-containing natural products continue to be discovered, the methods described above should see much use. 

Cyanohydrins are starting materials of widespread interest for preparing important compounds such as a-hydroxy acids/esters, a-amino acids, / -amino alcohols, a-hydroxy aldehydes, vicinal diols, and a-hydroxy ketones. Cyanohydrin compounds can be synthesized using various chiral catalysts such as cyclic... 

DIHYDROFURAN DIVINYL ETHER METHACROLEIN 2-BUTYNE-1,4-DIOL ganna-BUTYROLACTONE cis-CROTONIC ACID trans-CROTONIC ACID METHACRYLIC ACID METHYL ACRYLATE VINYL ACETATE ACETIC ANHYDRIDE SUCCINIC ACID DIGLYCOLIC ACID MALIC ACID TARTARIC ACID n-BUTYRONITRILE ISOBUTYRONITRILE ACETONE CYANOHYDRIN... 

The chiral titanium reagent preparerd in situ from the chiral 1,4-diol and dichlorodiisopropoxytitanium is expected to be applicable to various reactions catalyzed by Lewis acids. We, therefore, investigated the asymmetric synthesis of cyanohydrins from aldehydes and cyanotrimethylsilane employing the chiral titanium reagent.(20)... 

Cyclic cyanohydrin ethers, 6-alkyl-2,2-dimethyl-l,3-dioxane-4-carbonitriles 1, are easily available from silylated aldols. Deprotonation of 1 and subsequent alkylation gives, v+ -4,6-disubsti-tuted 2,2-dimethyl-l,3-dioxane-4-carbonitriles 2 in good yields in a highly diastereoselective reaction48. Primary bromoalkanes and oxiranes have been used as alkylating reagents. Reduction of the alkylation products 2 afforded the protected, vj. -l,3-diols 3 with complete retention of configuration (see Section D.2.I.). 

If 2-camphanyloxyacrylonitrile (15 R = C8H 02C00) is taken for cycloaddition, diastereoisomeric cycloadducts can be separated, and the basic system, 7-oxabicyclo-[2.2.1]hept-5-en-2-one 17, can be obtained in optically pure form [36]. Another way of obtaining enantiomeric ketones is based on crystallization of a brucine complex obtained from the corresponding cyanohydrines (see Sec. III). Ketone 17 can be converted [e.g., by cis-hydroxylation (—>18), protection of the diol system, and Baeyer-Villiger oxidation] to lactone 19, the opening of which leads to furanuronic acid 20. A new development in this field is based in cycloaddition between furan and 2-chloro- or 2-bromoacrolein in the presence of 5 mol% chiral oxazaborolidine 21 as catalyst [37],... 

In general, the method of enzymatic cyanohydrin synthesis promises to be of considerable value in asymmetric synthesis because of the synthetic potential offered by the rich chemistry of enantiomerically pure cyanohydrins, including their stereoselective conversion into other classes of compounds such as a-hydroxy carboxylic acids or respective esters, w c-diols, / -aminoalcohols, aziridins, a-azido(amino/fluoro)nitriles, and acyloins [501, 516]. 

A synthesis of this compound was devised by Ohmizu, Iwasaki and co-workers and featured a three-component tandem conjugate addition/enolate trapping as key step (Scheme 12.24) [82]. In this synthesis, the acyl anion equivalent cyanohydrin 165 was first treated with LDA and allowed to react with methyl crotonate 166. The resulting enolate was trapped with 2,3,5-trimethoxy benzylbromide 168 to afford crude intermediate 169, which was immediately deprotected in situ to afford ketone product 170. Both the ester and the ketone functionalities were then reduced at low temperature to afford the corresponding diol 171. Upon treatment with trifluoroacetic acid, the desired Friedel-Craft cyclization adduct 172 was obtained. The latter tricyclic compound was then further elaborated to the final target 164 through a short sequence of standard transformations. 

Aldehydes and ketones undergo a variety of reactions that lead to many different products. The most common reactions are nucleophilic addition reactions, which lead to the formation of alcohols, alkenes, diols, cyanohydrins (RCH(OH)C=N) > and imines (R2C =NR) 5 to mention a few representative examples. 

Reductive decyanation. This reaction is a key step in a route to syn-l,3-diol acetonides from P-trimethylsilyloxy aldehydes (1). Reaction of 1 with trimethylsilyl cyanide followed by acetonation gives a 1 1 mixture of a protected cyanohydrin (2). This mixture is converted into a single isomer (3) on alkylation of the anion of the cyanohydrin acetonide. Reductive decyanation with Na-NH3 at -78° produces a syn-diol acetonide (4). The apparent retention of configuration in the reduction results from preferential formation of an intermediate axial anion. 

The hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL) class of enzymes, also referred to as oxynitrilases, consists of enzymes that catalyze the formation of chiral cyanohydrins by the stereospecific addition of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) to aldehydes and ketones (Scheme 19.36).275 279 These chiral cyanohydrins are versatile synthons, which can be further modified to prepare chiral a-hydroxy acids, a-hydroxy aldehydes and ketones, acyloins, vicinal diols, ethanolamines, and a- and P-amino acids, to name a few.280 Both (R)- and (.S )-selective HNLs have been isolated, usually from plant sources, where their natural substrates play a role in defense mechanisms of the plant through the release of HCN. In addition to there being HNLs with different stereo-preferences, two different classifications have been defined, based on whether the HNL contains a flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) co-factor. 

In general, substrate affinity and cyanide release increase with increasing size of the R group with benzylcyanide having a Km as low as 2.3 pM for rat nasal micro-somes. Metabolism of acrylonitrile may proceed via an epoxide, formed by CYP, which is then converted to the diol by epoxide hydrolase. The diol would then release cyanide by the same mechanism as other cyanohydrins. 

Acetals prepared from chiral diols and carbonyl compounds serve as a chiral synthetic equivalent of aldehydes or ketones. 1,3-Dioxanes synthesized from chiral 2,4-pentanediols are especially useful, and high asymmetric inductions are observed in the Lewis acid promoted reactions of a variety of organometallic compounds. After the removal of the chiral auxiliary by the oxidation and -elimination procedures, optically active alcohols are obtained. Optically active propargylic alcohols and cyanohydrins are synthesized from organosilane compounds, TMS-C CR or TMS-CN in the presence of TiCU (Scheme 24). 1 6-138 Reactive wganometals such as alkyl-lithiums, -magnesiums or -coppers also react with chiral... 

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