1.5- Dienes biomimetic cyclization

The radical cations of diene systems in cyclic molecules are also capable of reaction as demonstrated by Demnth, Roth and their coworkers. They have studied the influence of phase on the photochemical reactivity of some naturally occurring dienes. Thns the irradiation of the diene 10 in homogeneous solution (acetonitrile/water) in the presence of an electron-accepting sensitizer such as cyanonaphthalene (CN) or DCB brings about fraws,cw-isomerization only. However, when the electron transfer reaction is carried out in the presence of sodinm dodecyl sulphate, transannular hydrogen abstraction reactions yield the two prodncts 11 and 12. Similar reactivity is observed with frans-geranyl acetate 13 and all-trawi-famesyl acetate 14. The authors report that these cyclizations are the flrst examples of biomimetic processes brought about under SET conditions. 

A biomimetic synthesis of ( )-pallescensin A (107 R = H) has been achieved through the concerted Bp3 Et20-induced cyclization of epoxide (106) to yield crystalline (107 R = OH) (25%), followed by subsequent deoxygenation. The cyclization of the parent diene with BF3-Et20 gave (107 R == H) directly (84%) as an almost pure oil. 

The synthesis in Scheme 13.38 combines elements of a biomimetic-type polyene cyclization with a rearrangement similar to that just described in Scheme 13.37. The early stages of the synthesis culminate in the construction of the allylic alcohol in step B. In step C, it is epoxidized using the stereoselective VO(t-BuOOH) method (Section 12.2.1). This epoxidation provides the key intermediate for the polyene cyclization. The mild Lewis acid FeCla is used to promote the cyclization, which terminates in an electrophilic substitution of the methoxyphenyl substituent. Steps E and F convert the methoxyphenyl ring to a diene. This diene undergoes a Diels-Alder reaction in step G. After catalytic reduction of the double bond, the anhydride is subjected to an oxidative bis-decarboxylation (see Section 12.4.2 for discussion of this reaction). The resulting alkene is epoxidized, and the epoxide is reduced. A rearrangement is done at this point. The reaction is similar to that used in Scheme 13.37, except that it involves a saturated, rather than allylic, system. The final steps in the synthesis are those used in Schemes 13.33 and 13.34. 

Herein, three syntheses of morphine or related alkaloids are discussed in detail, which utilize completely different protocols for the coupling of the ring motifs of the alkaloid. Rice published a biomimetic approach with an acid-mediated electrophilic cyclization strategy as key step [144]. Mulzer employed a Friedel-Crafts acylation and a Robinson annulation to construct the phenanthrenone ring system [145]. The D ring of the alkaloid was elaborated with a 1,4-cuprate addition as key step. In his most recent contribution to morphine research, Hudlicky employed a Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction to construct the ABCE ring system of the natural product. The requisite diene was obtained after oxidative dearomatization of the A ring precursor [146]. 

This methodology has been applied to a highly stereoselective biomimetic polyene cyclization using chiral tricarbonyl(ii -l-pentadienol)iron complexes to give rise to franj-decaline (Ti -diene)iron complexes. The transformation represents a potential route to bicyclic sesquiterpenes and tricyclic diterpenes (Scheme 4-191). ... 

The transannular cationic cyclization was the key transformation for biomimetic synthesis of the linear triquinane A -capneUene by Birch and Pattenden. It involved treating the cycloocta-1,5-diene or its exo-methylene isomer (i.e., 154) with BF3-Et20 to initiate the transannular cycH-zations to give A -capnellene and the two isomers 157 and 158 (Scheme 20.38). These products were derived from the same carbocation intermediate 156 of the transannular cationic cyclization and the major product A -capnellene was also formed by the isomerization of the bridgehead capnellene 158. 

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