Macrolactones, Mitsunobu reaction

Macrolactonization can also be achieved by the Mitsunobu reaction [44] with inversion of the configuration of the alcohol. The reaction principle and mechanism are demonstrated in Scheme 24. Addition of triphenylphosphine to diethyl azodicarboxylate (DEAD, 73) forms a quaternary phosphonium salt 74, which is protonated by hydroxy acid 11, followed by phosphorus transfer from nitrogen to oxygen yielding the alkoxyphosphonium salt 76 and diethyl hydrazinedicarboxy-late 75. Then, an intramolecular Sn2 displacement of the important intermediate 76 results in the formation of the lactone 15 and triphenylphosphine oxide. 

A further reaction mechanistically similar to the Mitsunobu reaction as shown in Scheme 26, with the use of AT,iV-dimethylformamide dineopentylacetal (80), can also be employed for macrolactonization [47]. Takei and coworkers [48] applied it to the synthesis of the macrocyclic antibiotic A26771B (55). As shown in Scheme 27, treatment of the linear precursor 82 with 80 in refluxing dichloromethane for 7 h afforded the lactone 83 (39% yield). 

An example of an alcohol activation method is the Mitsunobu reaction. This reaction is performed by slow addition of the seco-acid alcohol to a mixture of diethyl azodicarboxylate (DEAD) and PPhs in toluene or THF. In the mechanism, the key intermediate is an alkoxyphosphonium cation, which is formed by DEAD and PPhs in situ. The macrolactone is formed by an intramolecular Sn2 reaction of this intermediate via an attack of the carboxylate moiety and therefore the reaction proceeds with inversion of the configuration at C-co. 

A convergent total synthesis of 15-membered macrolactone, (-)-amphidinolide P was reported by D.R. Williams and coworkers.In their approach, they utilized the Sakurai aiiyiation to introduce the C7 hydroxyl group and the homoallylic side chain. The transformation was effected by BF3-OEt2 at -78 °C to provide the homoallylic alcohol as a 2 1 mixture of diastereomers. The desired alcohol proved to be the major diastereomer, as it resulted from the Felkin-Ahn controlled addition of the allylsilane to the aldehyde. The minor diastereomer was converted into the desired stereoisomer via a Mitsunobu reaction. 

Mitsunobu et al. [46] reported an efficient macrolactonization using diethyl azodicarboxylate (DEAD) and Ph3P. In the case of (o-hydroxy acids having a secondary alcohol, this cyclization takes place with inversion of the configuration of the alcohol. In the total synthesis of latrunculin A (82) and B, the Mitsunobu reaction was used for the macrolactonization of the seco-acid 81 with inversion of the secondary alcohol [47]. 

Diethyl azodicarboxylate (Et02C-N=N-C02Et, DEAD) is a key reagent in the Mitsunobu reaction (sec. 2.7.A.ii) and has also been used for macrolactonization. Reaction of 230 with DEAD gave 15% of 231 in White s synthesis of the antibiotic vermiculine. ... 

Two other important methods are described in Fig. 7. The first is a macrolactonization mediated by the Mitsunobu reaction. In this case, in contrast with the preceding examples, the hydroxyl functional group is activated, and the carboxylate group behaves as a nucleophile. The reaction of the hydroxy acid with diethyl... 

Fig. 7 Macrolactonizations mediated by (a) the Mitsunobu reaction (b) the Steglich esterification run in the presence of DMPA, which gives only an urea derivative and (c) high yields of lactones, which are obtained in the presence of a proton source (DMPA, HCl).

The synthesis of 252 began with Brown s asymmetric crotylation to aldehyde 261. The resulting homoallyl alcohol was converted benzyl ester 262, which was reduced to give lactol acetate 263. Axial allylation to 263 formed 2,6-trans-tetrahydropyran 264, which was subjected to ozonolysis to give an aldehyde. Addition of alkenylzinc, prepared by hydrozircona-tion of an alkyne 265, to the aldehyde mediated by chiral ligand 266 yielded allyl alcohol 267 with a 5.1 1 diastereoselectivity [110]. The stereochemistry of the major isomer was found, unexpectedly, to be the S-form at Cl7, which rendered the macrolactonization to adopt the Mitsunobu reaction. The iodide 252, prepared from 267 in three steps, reacted with... 

To complete the synthesis, the secondary alcohol of 3 was methylated. Selective desilyat-ion of the primary alcohol followed by oxidation and desilylation then set the stage for the Mitsunobu macrolactonization. The intermediates in the Mitsunobu reaction are such that the lactonization can proceed with either inversion of absolute configuration at the secondary center, or retention. While the usually-employed Ph P gave the lactone with retention of absolute configuration, Bu P led to clean inversion. 

The Wipf s synthesis of the leucascandrolide macrolactone relied on a convergent strategy with the two requisite fragments 2.81 and 2.82. The late stage macro-cyclization utilized the Mitsunobu reaction of the seco-acid. The synthesis began... 

A Mitsunobu process simultaneously coupled the enyne acid fragment 4 to /J-lactam 10 and inverted the CIO stereochemistry to the required (S)-configured ester 11 in 93% yield. A deprotection provided alcohol 12, the key /J-lactam-based macrolactonization substrate, which, under conditions similar to those reported by Palomo for intermolecular alcoholysis of /J-lactams (Ojima et al, 1992, 1993 Palomo et al, 1995), provided the desired core macrocycle 13 of PatA 13 (Hesse, 1991 Manhas et al, 1988 Wasserman, 1987). Subsequent Lindlar hydrogenation gave the required E, Z-dienoate. A Stille reaction and final deprotection cleanly provided (-)-PatA that was identical in all respects to the natural product (Romo etal, 1998 Rzasaef al, 1998). This first total synthesis confirmed the relative and absolute configuration of the natural product and paved the way for synthesis of derivatives for probing the mode of action of this natural product. 

The key asymmetric acetate aldol reaction was carried out using Carreira s conditions (Scheme 12-1) to give 4 in nearly quantitative yields and perfect enantioselectivity, followed by hydrolysis to acid ent-5. This is the enantiomer of the fragment present in the natural products. Because of later difficulties with the macrolactonization, that step was carried out under Mitsunobu conditions with inversion of the alcohol, hence necessitating the opposite stereochemistry in precursor ent-5. 

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