Indoles, polycyclic, synthesis

Blechert S, Knier R et al (1995) Domino reactions - new concepts in the synthesis of indole alkaloids and other polycyclic indole derivatives. Synthesis 592-604... 

Scheme 1.39. Synthesis of an indole derivative by a three fold cationic polycyclization.

Two new polycyclic pyridoacridine alkaloids, arnoamine B, 289, and its demethylated analogue, arnoamine A, have been isolated from the ascidian Cystodytes sp. These new compounds are the first known examples of pyrroles fused to pyridoacridines, have antifungal properties, and are cytotoxic in several human tumor cell lines <1998JOC1657>. Both these compounds have been synthesized, starting from the hydrazone 290 with a Fischer indole synthesis (Scheme 73) <2000JOC5476>. 

Scheme 41 Synthesis of polycyclic indole alkaloid-type compounds 225. The X-ray structure of compound 225D is shown in blue sticks (CCDC-749252)...

Blechert et al. have proposed a new effective approach to the synthesis of different indole alkaloids using cation domino reactions (95S592, 97AGE1474). The total yield of uleine (7a), produced on the basis of this concept, is 32%, which is quite unique in the synthesis of polycyclic indole alkaloids. Note that this is the total yield, starting from cyclohexenone 46 the yield of the key step of the synthesis - the cyclization of carbazole 47 into 7a is 95% (Scheme 12). 

Since the publication of CHEC-II(1996) <1996CHEC-II(6)1>, in which thermally induced [4+2] cycloadditions have been reviewed, significant progress has been realized in this strategy, especially for the synthesis of polycyclic heterocycles. Cyclophanes 12 containing pyridazine and indole units were used for the synthesis of pentacyclic compounds 13 via a thermally induced transannular inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction (Equation 2) <20020L127, 2002AGE3261>. 

Although not described as such, this reactivity of silver as a Lewis acid in C-C bond formation via enamines was already known and actually described in the synthesis of complex indole alkaloids. A A-sulfonyldienamine embedded within a polycyclic indole ring system added to the trimethylsilylated propargyl arm of this system, leading in high yield to a new six-membered ring (Scheme 10.71).110... 

The carbolithiation of unactivated alkenes has also proven very successful for the synthesis of complex polycyclic systems. This has typically been achieved by reaction sequences utilizing an intramolecular carbolithiation process to generate a variety of carbocycles185 and heterocycles186. To achieve the intermolecular carbolithiation reaction required to initiate a controlled cascade reaction sequence for the generation of indole ring scaffold, Kessler and coworkers44 have expanded the synthetic utility of the styrene... 

As many advances in indole side-chain modification are bom out of focused efforts in total synthesis, a vast amount of the literature has been devoted toward descriptions of tactics for controlled access to the polycyclic lattices that adorn the indole core. To that end, Williams... 

In contrast to the polycyclic indole, isoquinoline, or terpene alkaloids, the di- and polyamine alkaloids seem to be of much simpler construction. This first impression is misleading. Special structural features render this group of alkaloids even more difficult to handle than the above-mentioned ones. It should be noted that the structures of several polyamine alkaloids have had to be revised. Because of this, two main factors should be mentioned. (1) The alkaloids sometimes occur as mixtures that are very difficult to separate, and (2) the results from spectral or chemical analyses are equivocal (cf. references on structural elucidation in Section V). This group of alkaloids was the subject of several review papers (26-28) and especially covering the subject of synthesis (29-32). Some general aspects of the difficulties associated with the isolation and structure elucidation of the polyamine alkaloids are discussed. 

Successful berbine synthesis summarized in Section IV,C prompted Nin-omiya s group (25,26,117,118) to extend enamide photocyclization to har-malane, therefore giving rise to a novel and facile synthesis of polycyclic heterocycles such as the yohimbine group of compounds. Before reductive photocyclization was introduced, the use of nonoxidative photocyclization with indole alkaloids was limited to simple systems and those possessing a large degree of aromaticity. 

Among the wide variety of unsaturated functionalities which participate in the cobalt-mediated [2+2+2] cycloaddition that has proved to be a powerful tool for the assembly of complex polycyclic molecules are a number of aromatic heterocyclic double bonds, such as those in pyrrole and indole <20000L2479, 2001JA9324 and references therein>. Indoles, including those substituted at C-3, can be cyclized, both intra- and intermolecularly, with a wide variety of alkynes to yield functionalized products in moderate to good yields. A stereoselective cobalt-mediated [2+2+2] cycloaddition reaction between the W(pent-2-en-4-ynoyl)indole moiety of tryptamine derivative 1093 (R = (CH2)2NHAc) and acetylene has been employed for the formal total synthesis of strychnine 1097, the most famous Strychnos alkaloid and a commonly used rodenticide and animal stimulant (Scheme 213). 

Fused polycyclic compound 1151, that may serve as an intermediate in the synthesis of Ergot alkaloids, was obtained by submitting indole 1150 to the PKR under the usual conditions (Equation 264) <2004JOC5413>. The results showed the formation of compound 1151 in good yield (60%) using method B and in moderate yield (37%) using catalytic conditions E. 

The majority of published work on aza-ylides concerns their applications in synthesis, and here we report a selection of contributions from this area. The Staudinger reaction is a popular route to aza-ylides and has been used to prepare a series of perfluoroalkyl-tagged aza-Wittig reagents, e.g., (68), which were generated in situ (Scheme 22), and utilised in the synthesis of 3//-quinazolidine-4-ones in a fluorous biphasic system. A method for the preparation of aza-polycyclic compounds derived from pyrrolidine, indolizidine and indole has... 

Synthesis of polycyclic indole alkaloids using compounds of metals 84YZ701. 

An elegant photochemical formation of an aryl-carbon bond through a PET mechanism was recently reported in the total synthesis of the potent antimitotic polycycle (-)-diazonamide A. The reaction was initiated by intramolecular electron transfer between the indole chromophore and the adjacent bromoarene (Scheme 2.10). Thus, compound 21 was treated with an aqueous-acetonitrile solution of LiOH and the resulting lithium phenoxide solution was degassed and photolyzed (Rayonet, 300 nm) to yield biaryl 22 (as a single atropodiastereomer) in a good yield. A radical-radical anion pair (23) was formed upon excitation, and... 

Due to the prevalence and diversity of pyrrole and indole alkaloids and the limitations of space, no attempt will be made to describe all of the synthetic efforts in this area. Of those syntheses wherein the construction of a pyrrole ring was of major importance, most efforts were devoted to the marine polycyclic aromatic lamellarin class of alkaloids and total syntheses of lamellarins-D, -G, -K and -O <97X5951, 97AGE155, 97CC2259, 97CC207> were reported Although not a total synthesis, Furstner reported a Pd-mediated route to the macrotricyclic core of the anti-leukemia alkaloid, roseophilin <97JA2944>. 

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