Isoxazoline compounds natural products

Primary nitro compounds are good precursors for preparing nitriles and nitrile oxides (Eq. 6.31). The conversion of nitro compounds into nitrile oxides affords an important tool for the synthesis of complex natural products. Nitrile oxides are reactive 1,3-dipoles that form isoxazolines or isoxazoles by the reaction with alkenes or alky nes, respectively. The products are also important precursors for various substrates such as P-amino alcohols, P-hydroxy ketones, P-hydroxy nitriles, and P-hydroxy acids (Scheme 6.3). Many good reviews concerning nitrile oxides in organic synthesis exist some of them are listed here.50-56 Applications of organic synthesis using nitrile oxides are discussed in Section 8.2.2. 

From the 1980s on, many efforts were directed toward asymmetric induction of nitrile oxide cycloadditions to give pure (dia)stereoisomeric isoxazolines, and acyclic products derived from them (17,18,20-23). The need to obtain optically active cycloaddition products for use in the synthesis of natural products was first served by using chiral olefins, relying on 1,2-asymmetric induction, and then with optically active aldehydes or nitro compounds for the nitrile oxide part. In the latter case, insufficient induction occurs using chiral nitrile oxides, a problem still unsolved today. Finally, in the last 5 years, the first cases of successful asymmetric catalysis were found (29), which will certainly constitute a major area of study in the coming decade. 

In the great major tiy of applications that use the intramolecular nitrile oxide-alkene cycloaddition, the intention is to prepare intermediates for the synthesis of natural products or related compounds. The most popular transformations of these isoxazolines are the following ring cleavage modes ... 

Kozikowski s group has been particularly active in the application of the INOC reaction toward the construction of a variety of natural products. One of the many examples from his laboratory involves the synthesis of tetracyclic compounds possessing suitably functionalized C rings for elaboration to a diverse number of ergot alkaloids via the INOC reaction. A total synthesis of chanoclavine I (65) was accomplished by this chemistry (Scheme 15). The key step in the synthesis involved the conversion of the nitro group of indole (62) into the corresponding nitrile oxide using the phenyl isocyanate procedure developed by Mukaiyama.57 The major product corresponded to isoxazoline (64). The isoxazoline nucleus was converted into chanoclavine I (65) in a series of subsequent steps. The application of nitrile oxide cycloaddition chemistry to the construction of other natural products can be expected to be an active area in future years. 

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition has been employed for the synthesis of various natural products as well. For instance, Mateos et al. reported a diastereoselective synthesis of the model insect antifeedant 281 related to 12-hydroxyazadiradione utihzing the intramolecular nitrile oxide cycloaddition (Scheme 65) [167]. The nitro compound 279 was synthesized from a-cyclocitral 278 in four steps. The cleavage of isoxazoline 280 was performed under three different conditions Raney Ni-mediated cleavage in methanol-water-acetic acid provided the epimeric ketoalcohol 282 in 5 3 ratio. While there was 100% selectivity in favor of the axial alcohol 282a in the presence of Pd/C and boric acid, the selectivity was in favor of the equatorial alcohol 282b when boric acid was replaced by acetic acid. 

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