Cyclization cationic, polyene

Polyene Cyclization. Perhaps the most synthetically useful of the carbo-cation alkylation reactions is the cyclization of polyenes having two or more double bonds positioned in such a way that successive bond-forming steps can occur. This process, called polyene cyclization, has proven to be an effective way of making polycyclic compounds containing six-membered and, in some cases, five-membered rings. The reaction proceeds through an electrophilic attack and requires that the double bonds that participate in the cyclization be properly positioned. For example, compound 1 is converted quantitatively to 2 on treatment with formic acid. The reaction is initiated by protonation and ionization of the allylic alcohol and is terminated by nucleophilic capture of the cyclized secondary carbocation. 

Some excellent examples of cationic polycyclizations, especially in the field of steroid synthesis, were described in Chapter 1. However, these polycyclizations can also be performed using a radical as initiator. Such reactions can be divided into those based on serial 6-mdo-trig cyclizations from polyene acyl precursors [92], radi-... 

The cationic cyclization of polyenes to give multi-ring carbocyclic compounds with many sterically defined centres is one of the more remarkable examples... 

Removable cation-stabilizing auxiliaries have been investigated for polyene cyclizations. For example, a silyl-assisted carbocation cyclization has been used in an efficient total synthesis of lanosterol. Other conditions for the cyclization of polyenes and of ene-ynes to steroids have been investigated. Oxidative free-radical cyclizations of polyenes produce steroid nuclei with exquisite stereocontrol Besides the aforementioned A-ring aromatic steroids and contraceptive agents, partial synthesis from steroid raw materials has also accounted for the vast majority of industrial-scale steroid synthesis. 

Nature often provides excellent suggestions about how to synthesize a compound. After the pathway for the biosynthesis of steroids by cationic cyclization of polyenes was determined, Professor William S. Johnson and coworkers at Stanford University used a very similar reaction to synthesize progesterone. The last part of this synthesis is outlined in the following equations. Alcohol A was prepared in 12 steps with an overall yield of 10%. It was then cyclized to form the steroid ring system. 

In addition to cationic cyclizations, other conditions for the cyclization of polyenes and of ene-ynes to steroids have been investigated. Oxidative free-radical cyclizations of polyenes produce steroid nuclei with exquisite stereocontrol. For example, treatment of (259) and (260) with Mn(III) and Cu(II) afford the D-homo-5a-androstane-3-ones (261) and (262), respectively, in approximately 30% yield. In this cyclization, seven asymmetric centers are established in one chemical step (226,227). Another intramolecular cyclization reaction of iodo-ene poly-ynes was reported using a carbopaUadation cascade terminated by carbonylation. This carbometalation—carbonylation cascade using CO at 111 kPa (1.1 atm) at 70°C converted an acycHc iodo—tetra-yne (263) to a D-homo-steroid nucleus (264) [162878-44-6] in approximately 80% yield in one chemical step (228). Intramolecular aimulations between two alkynes and a chromium or tungsten carbene complex have been examined for the formation of a variety of different fiised-ring systems. A tandem Diels-Alder—two-alkyne annulation of a triynylcarbene complex demonstrated the feasibiHty of this strategy for the synthesis of steroid nuclei. Complex (265) was prepared in two steps from commercially available materials. Treatment of (265) with Danishefsky s diene in CH CN at room temperature under an atmosphere of carbon monoxide (101.3 kPa = 1 atm), followed by heating the reaction mixture to 110°C, provided (266) in 62% yield (TBS = tert — butyldimethylsilyl). In a second experiment, a sequential Diels-Alder—two-alkyne annulation of triynylcarbene complex (267) afforded a nonaromatic steroid nucleus (269) in approximately 50% overall yield from the acycHc precursors (229). 

Acidic resins [1, 514, after citation of ref. 17]. The biogenetically patterned cyclization of polyenes by Lewis acid catalysts can also be effected by cation-exchange resins (Amberlite IR-20 and XE-100).17a Thus methyl trans.trans-iarntsate (1) is cyclized by XE-100 in acetic acid to (2), (3), and (4), separable by gas chroma-... 

Cation-JT interactions are also prominent at the active sites of enzymes involving cationic substrates. Key examples include the blood coagulation serine proteases Factor Xa and thrombin, and a number of enzymes that use S-adenosyhnethionine. a sulfonium ion that serves as nature s ubiquitous methyl transfer agent. A spectacular series of examples is the array of enzymes that catalyze the cationic cyclizations of polyenes in a key step of terpene and steroid biosynthesis. It is now clear that... 

To be of maximum synthetic value, the generation of the cationic site that initiates cyclization must involve mild reaction conditions. Formic acid and stannic chloride have proved to be effective reagents for cyclization of polyunsaturated allylic alcholos. Acetals generate a-alkoxy carbocations in acidic solution and can also be used to initiate the cyclization of polyenes ... 

In 2010, Loh s group reported a highly efficient catalytic enantioselective polyene cyclization [52]. An a-ketoester was demonstrated to initiate enantioselective cationic polyene cyclization catalyzed by a Sc(OTf)3-Pybox Lewis acid catalyst (Scheme 9.39). 

Polyene cyclizations are of substantial value in the synthesis of polycyclic terpene natural products. These syntheses resemble the processes by which the polycyclic compounds are assembled in nature. The most dramatic example of biosynthesis of a polycyclic skeleton from a polyene intermediate is the conversion of squalene oxide to the steroid lanosterol. In the biological reaction, an enzyme not only to induces the cationic cyclization but also holds the substrate in a conformation corresponding to stereochemistry of the polycyclic product.17 In this case, the cyclization is terminated by a series of rearrangements. 

Scheme 10.1 gives some representative examples of laboratory syntheses involving polyene cyclization. The cyclization in Entry 1 is done in anhydrous formic acid and involves the formation of a symmetric tertiary allylic carbocation. The cyclization forms a six-membered ring by attack at the terminal carbon of the vinyl group. The bicyclic cation is captured as the formate ester. Entry 2 also involves initiation by a symmetric allylic cation. In this case, the triene unit cyclizes to a tricyclic ring system. Entry 3 results in the formation of the steroidal skeleton with termination by capture of the alkynyl group and formation of a ketone. The cyclization in Entry 4 is initiated by epoxide opening. 

Attempts by Fish and Johnson to effect a steroid synthesis using a standard epoxide-initiated pentacyclization of a polyene afforded complex mixtures [69]. Alternatively, the allyl alcohol 326 was synthesized and treated with TFA (Scheme 19.60). Protonation affords a symmetrical tetramethylallyl cation that undergoes cyclization to give pentacycle 327 in 31% yield. Simultaneous cleavage of the isopropylidene and vinylidene groups was carried out to furnish the diketone 328 in 88% yield, which was then converted to sophoradiol (329). 

Antibody HA519A4 catalyzes the tandem cationic cyclization of a polyene substrate (Figure 5). ... 

A radical-cation-type cyclization of a series of isoprenoid polyene acetates has been described recently by Demuth. In the presence of an electron acceptor... 

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