Masked equivalent acrolein

The concise enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-monomorine I, a 3,5-dialkyl-substituted indolizidine alkaloid, was completed by S. Blechert et al. using a sequential cross-metathesis double reductive cyclization strategy. The enedione substrate was prepared in two steps. The Stetter reaction between the masked equivalent of acrolein and butyl vinyl ketone was followed by a retro Diels-Alder reaction under flash vacuum pyrolysis (FVP) conditions. 

Regiospecific alkylation of dimethylhydrazone anions with the masked acrolein equivalent, 3-bromo-propionaldehyde dimethyl acetal, has brcn used as an alternative to a conventional Michael reaction in Corey s total synthesis of picrotoxinin (c/. equation 13). Azaallyllithium reagents derived from aldehyde and ketone hydrazones, unlike enolates, yield monoalkylation products with control of both regio-chemistry and stereochemistry. In appropriate cases, alkylation followed by deprotection to form a dicarbonyl product can be a very effective synthetic strategy. 

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