Cycloaddition reactions indolizidine alkaloids

The intramolecular cycloaddition reaction of enamides has been exploited in alkaloid synthesis (81JOC3763). One successful application is provided by the total synthesis of the fused indolizidine 5 from 4 as a 1 1 mixture of epimers in 43% total yield 5 is a key intermediate in aspidosperma alkaloid synthesis (79JA3294). 

The product of the reaction in Entry 8 was used in the synthesis of the alkaloid pseudotropine. The proper stereochemical orientation of the hydroxy group is determined by the structure of the oxazoline ring formed in the cycloaddition. Entry 9 portrays the early stages of synthesis of the biologically important molecule biotin. The reaction in Entry 10 was used to establish the carbocyclic skeleton and stereochemistry of a group of toxic indolizidine alkaloids found in dart poisons from frogs. Entry 11 involves generation of a nitrile oxide. Three other stereoisomers are possible. The observed isomer corresponds to approach from the less hindered convex face of the molecule. 

An intramolecular palladium-catalyzed tandem cyclization of dienamides 67 in which the amide nucleophile adds twice has been developed (equation 29)60. This reaction constitutes a formal [4+1] cycloaddition and provides a new route to pyrrolizidine and indolizidine alkaloids. Reaction of dienamides 67 in the presence of catalytic amounts of Pd(OAc)2 and CUCI2/O2 as the oxidant afforded bicyclic compounds 68 in good yields. The pyrrolizidine derivative 68 (R = Me, n = 1) was transformed to the alkaloid ( )-heliotridane. 

The Danishefsky group has examined the uncatalyzed and Lewis adic-catalyzed cycloadditions of highly oxygenated dienes with simple imines in preparation of yohimbine50b analogs and the indolizidine alkaloid ipalbi-dine (Scheme 2-VII).50c What is quite interesting is that some of these dienes are sufficiently reactive that catalysis was not necessary with neutral imines. Also, the reaction seems to show excellent facial stereoselectivity with respect to the imine. 

This route was used in a synthesis of the simple indolizidine alkaloid 8-coniceine (41). AAAcylimines are only transient intermediates in these Diels-Alder reactions and are not usually detected. However, Lasne et al.,i7 using a flash vacuum pyrolysis (FVP) technique, have generated neutral AAacylimines and showed that they are indeed involved in Diels-Alder cycloadditions. 

Tethering the alkene to the carbon atom of the nitrone allows the preparation of cw-l,2-disubstituted cycloalkanes such as 212. Examples in which the alkene is tethered to the nitrogen atom of the nitrone are also common. Thus, addition of formaldehyde to the hydroxylamine 213 promoted formation of the intermediate nitrone and hence the cycloadduct 214 (3.140). " Subsequent transformations led to the alkaloid luciduline. This synthesis illustrates a useful feature of the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones, in that it provides an alternative to the Mannich reaction as a route to (3-amino-ketones, via reductive cleavage of the N-0 bond in the isoxazolidine and oxidation of the 1,3-amino-alcohol product. In another example of such an intramolecular cycloaddition reaction, the bridged bicyclic product 217, used in a synthesis of indolizidine 209B, was formed by addition of an aldehyde to the hydroxylamine 215, followed by heating the intermediate nitrone 216 (3.141).142... 

It is well known that alkyl azides also behave as 1,3-dipoles in intramolecular thermal cycloaddition reactions. The formation of two carbon-nitrogen bonds leads to triazolines, which are usually not stable. They decompose after the loss of nitrogen to aziridines, diazo compounds, and heterocyclic imines. There are a limited number of examples reported in which the triazoline was isolated [15]. The dipolar cycloaddition methodology has been extremely useful for the synthesis of many natural products with interesting biological activities [16], In recent years, the cycloaddition approach has allowed many successful syntheses of complex molecules which would be difficult to obtain by different routes. For instance, Cha and co-workers developed a general approach to functionalized indolizidine and pyrrolizidine alkaloids such as (-i-)-crotanecine [17] and (-)-slaframine [18]. The key step of the enantioselective synthesis of (-)-swainsonine (41), starting from 36, involves the construction of the bicyclic imine 38 by an intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of an azide derived from tosylate 36, as shown in Scheme 6 [ 19). 

Alkenyl nitrones, having the alkene connected to the nitrone nitrogen atom, have been used in another approach to intramolecular reactions (231-235). Holmes and co-workers have this method for the synthesis of the alkaloid (—)-indolizidine 209B 137 (210,231). The alkenyl nitrone 134, was obtained from the chiral hydroxylamine 133 and an aldehyde. In the intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, 135 was formed as the only isomer (Scheme 12.45). The diastereofacial selectivity was controlled by the favored conformation of the cyclohexane-like transition state in which the pentyl group was in a pseudoequatorial position, as indicated by 134. Further transformation of 135 led to the desired product 137. 

The seco-phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid septicine has been synthesized by a nitrone route. A cycloaddition of 1-pyrroline 1-oxide with 2,3-bis-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)butadiene gives two stereoisomeric isoxazolidines, one of which is converted into ( ) septicine.10 ( )-Tylophorine and 5-coniceine have been prepared by a new route that makes use of an intramolecular imino-Diels-Alder reaction.11 A stereoselective synthesis of 3,5-dialkyl-indolizidines has been applied to the synthesis of a stereoisomer of the trail pheromone of the Pharaoh ant and to a stereoisomer of gephyrotoxin 223.12 A stereoselective total synthesis of ( )-perhydrogephyrotoxin (21)13 and a simple synthesis of ( )-gephyran14 have been reported. 

A similar approach is used for the synthesis of silaketal 6 as a key intermediate in a total synthesis of (+)-castanospennine and related indolizidine and pyrroUzidine alkaloids (eq 4). First, the triflate moiety in 1 is replaced by reaction with lithium buta-dienolate generated in situ from the reaction of 2,5-dihydrofuran and n-BuLi. Treatment of the monosubstituted intermediate with potassium nitroacetaldehyde in a chloroform-acetonitrile mixture yields the desired sila-tethered compound 6, which is then submitted to a Lewis acid-assisted tandem [4 -F 2]/[3 + 2]-cycloaddition. 

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