Endo-oxacyclization

Another possible termination step that has been utilized for the cycloetherification of alkynols involves CO insertion and esterification of the resulting acyl metal with an exogenous alcohol. This process has typically employed MeOH as solvent and a stoichiometric oxidant since the catalyst is turned over in a reduced form. Following this mechanistic motif, a variety of alkynols have been cyclized under Pd(n) catalysis to five- and six-membered oxacycles with incorporation of methyl esters into the products.294,327-329 For the formation of five-membered ring products, this reaction has been carried out in both exo- and endo-mode to provide 1- and 2-substituted... 

McDonald and coworkers studied a series of tandem endo-selective and stereospecific oxacyclization of polyepoxides by reaction with Lewis acid [92-95]. Polyepoxides, such as 50, can be obtained from the epoxidation of triene 49 with ketone 26 (Scheme 8). This cascade cyclization of polyepoxides provides an efficient method to synthesize substituted polycyclic ether structures, which are present in a number of biologically active marine natural products. 

The aluminum-mediated Petasis-Ferrier rearrangement is a stepwise [1,3]-sigmatropic process. The first step is the coordination of the Lewis-acid to the 0-atom of the enol. Coordination to the ether O-atom is reversible and nonproductive. Cleavage of the adjacent C-O-bond, assisted by the antiperiplanar lone pair of the etheral O-atom, stereospecifically gives rise to an oxocarbenium enolate species, which cyclizes to the desired oxacycle. The rate difference in the rearrangement for the five- versus six-membered series can be explained by the more facile 6-(enolendo)-endo-trig cyclization. The last step is the intramolecular equatorial hydride delivery. 

A number of oxacyclic natural products were synthesized via carbocycle-forming radical reaction of oxacyclic intermediates. An early example is the synthesis of (-)-dihydroagarofuran (170) by Biichi [109] (Scheme 58). The bridgehead chloride 168 obtained from the corresponding hydroxy ketone was amenable to radical cycliza-tion, and the tricyclic ether 169 was duly obtained. The aplysin synthesis [110] provides another example, and (—)-karahana ether (173) was synthesized via radical cyclization of the substrate 171 [111] (Scheme 59). Lactonic natural products (-1-)-eremantholide A [112], alliacolide [113], and (-)-anastrephin [114] were prepared via a variety of carbocycle-forming radical cyclization reactions. In the total synthesis of spongian-16-one (176) [115] (Scheme 60), the butenolide moiety in the substrate 174 served as the final radical acceptor for three consecutive 6-endo-. rig cyclizations. 

Z)-p-iodovinylic acids or 2-iodobenzoic acids with various allenyltribulyltin reagents in the presence of palladium acetate, triphenylphosphine, and tetrabutylammonium bromide in dimethylformamide provided good yields of the corresponding ot-pyrones or 3-substituted isocoumarins via tandem Stille reaction and 6-endo-dig oxacyclization. Notably, Larock and co-workers found that isocoumarins can be produced from o/t/zo-thallated benzoic acids and olefins too. °... 

---