Ethers, methyl reductive lithiation

It was further shown that the nonracemic stannane 70 can be prepared from the Mosher ester derivative 69 through reductive cleavage and BOM protection (equation 28). Lithiation and methylation gave the nonracemic ether with retention of configuration59. 

The preparation of 1 started with the addition of lithiated 4 to the enantiomcrically-pure epoxide 5, which was prepared from the racemate using the Jacobsen protocol. Reduction followed by selective protection of the primary alcohol gave the monosilyl ether, which was further protected with MOM chloride to give 7. Pd-mediated oxidation to the methyl ketone followed by condensation with the Horner-Emmons reagent gave the unsaturated ester 8 as an inconsequential mixture of geometric isomers. Oxidation then set the stage for the crucial cyclization. 

An orf/io-directed lithiation allows the conversion of 25 to aryl iodide 40. Reductive ether formation of aldehyde 40 with crotyl alcohol yields compound 41. Intramolecular Heck reaction of 41 affords a mixture of the olefins 42 and 43. The undesired alkene 42 can be isomer-ized quantitatively to the desired enol ether 43 with Wilkinson s catalyst. Sharpless dihydroxylation ee 94 %) of the enol ether 43 provides lactol 44, which is oxidized directly to lactone 45. Finally, the pyridone-O-methyl ester is cleaved under acid conditions (45 — 7). 

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