Cycloaddition reactions natural products synthesis, cyclizations

While application of the transition-metal-catalyzed [2 - - 2 - - 2] cycloaddition reaction and its variants for the construction of a benzene unit led to a plethora of natural products with different molecular structures and architectures, its use for the construction of a pyridine moiety within a natural product synthesis is less well developed. The reason for this is uncertain and should not account for the pyridine formation per se the co-cyclization of two alkynes with a nitrile unit to give a pyridine core can be catalyzed efficiently by cobalt, ruthenium, and cationic rhodium complexes, as shown in many methodology-oriented studies [35]. 

Intermolecular cycloadditions or Diels-Alder reactions have proved to be a successful route to several valuable intermediates for natural product syntheses. In creating new chiral centers, most of these reactions apply single asymmetric induction. As mentioned in Chapter 3, in the asymmetric synthesis of the octa-hydronaphthalene fragment, the Roush reaction is used twice. Subsequent intramolecular cyclization leads to the key intermediate, the aglycones, of several natural antitumor antibiotics. On the other hand, the Diels-Alder reaction of a dienophile-bearing chiral auxiliary can also be used intramolecularly to build... 

The first total synthesis of this natural product was achieved by Chiu and Lam [139]. Key step of the synthesis is a rhodium-catalyzed domino cychza-tion/cycloaddition reaction to form the tricyclic core of the diterpenoid from hnear a-diazoketone 337. Concerning the mechanism of the reaction, it is hkely that the rhodium catalyst, when reacted with 337 at 0 °C, formed a carbenoid species which immediately cyclized to 341 (Scheme 14.53). This 1,3-dipole then underwent an intramolecular cycloaddition with the aUcene to give a mixture of two cycloadducts in 81% yield with 339 as the major product (dr= 1 3.1 338 339). The minor diastereomer 338 was probably formed via a less stable boat conformation of the tether in contrast to the chair conformation shown in 341, leading to the desired product Decreasing the temperature from 0 to —15 °C did not increase the dr but lowered the yield. It is also remarkable that the reaction afforded no more than 0.5 mol% of the rhodium(II)octanoate dimer ([Rh2(Oct)4]). Further transformation of 339 finally furnished (—)-indicol (340) in an overall yield of 10% over 21 steps. 

The intramolecular Diels-Alder cyclization of cyclohexadiene-l,2-dicarboxylic anhydride-derived diester-tethered triene (86) produces the cycloadducts in a ratio of 7 1 (Scheme 31). The intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions of amino acid-derived trienes (87) yield cycloaddition products (88) and (89) which are mainly cw-fused and derived from the exo-transition states (Scheme 32). A key reaction in the synthesis of the natural product momilactone A is the transannular Diels-Alder cyclization of the trans-trans-cis alkene (90) to the trans-syn-trans tricycle (91) (Scheme 33). The Diels-Alder cycloaddition of 1 l-oxapentacyclo[6,5,2,2 0 0 ]-heptadeca-4,14,16-triene-4,5-dicarboxylic anhydride (92) with cyclopentadiene proceeds with 5yn-facial selectivity to produce syn,endo and syn,exo cycloadducts (93) and (94)... 

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