Lithium aluminum tri-tert-butoxyhydride

The cycloberbine 339 derived from coptisine (65) was reduced with lithium aluminum tri-tert-butoxyhydride to afford the trans-alcohol 340 along with a small amount of the cis-alcohol (Scheme 62). Treatment of 340 with ethyl chloroformate effected C-8—N bond cleavage and simultaneous oxyfunc-tionalization at C-8 with the desired stereochemistry to produce the oxazolidinone 341. This was hydrolyzed with potassium hydroxide and then underwent N-methylation to give ( )-ochrobirine (343). Similarly, the ochrobirine analog 344 was also obtained from berberine (15) (171). 

The 8-methyl-8,14-cycloberbine 364, derived from the protoberberine 324 via the betaine 363, was reduced with sodium borohydride or lithium aluminum tri-tert-butoxyhydride to give a diastereoisomeric mixture of cis-and trans-alcohols (7.8 1 or 1 7.8, respectively) (Scheme 64).t)n exposure to formaldehyde the mixture underwent N-hydroxymethylation and subsequent intramolecular substitution on the aziridine ring to give the oxazolidine 365. Removal of the hydroxyl group in 365 was accomplished by chlorination followed by hydrogenolysis with tributyltin hydride. Reductive opening of the oxazolidine 366 with sodium cyanoborohydride afforded ( )-raddeanamine (360), which has already been converted to ochotensimine (282) by dehydration. 

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