Naphthoquinone, synthesis

Muravnik L.E. and Ivanova A.N. (2002) Ultrastructural characteristics of leaf secretory cells from Droseraceae in relation to naphthoquinone synthesis. Botanical Journal 87 (11) 16-25. (In Russian). 

Scheme 6. Process history of indirect naphthoquinone synthesis using electrogenerated Ce(IV) [133]...

Donor substituents on the vinyl group further enhance reactivity towards electrophilic dienophiles. Equations 8.6 and 8.7 illustrate the use of such functionalized vinylpyrroles in indole synthesis[2,3]. In both of these examples, the use of acetyleneic dienophiles leads to fully aromatic products. Evidently this must occur as the result of oxidation by atmospheric oxygen. With vinylpyrrole 8.6A, adducts were also isolated from dienophiles such as methyl acrylate, dimethyl maleate, dimethyl fumarate, acrolein, acrylonitrile, maleic anhydride, W-methylmaleimide and naphthoquinone. These tetrahydroindole adducts could be aromatized with DDQ, although the overall yields were modest[3]. 

Photocycloaddition. Synthesis of the highly carcinogenic polycycHc hydrocarbons, eg (51) [72735-91-2] may be affected by photocycloaddition of 2-bromo-3-methoxy naphthoquinone [26037-61-6] with 1,1-diarylethylenes such as l,l-bis(p-methoxyphenyl)ethene (41). 

The synthesis of optically active epoxy-1,4-naphthoquinones (69) using ben2ylquininium chloride as the chiral catalyst under phase-transfer conditions has been reported (67). 2-Meth5l-l,4-naphthoquinone (R = CH ) (31) yields 70% of levorotatory (37). 2-Cyclohexyl-l,4-naphthoquinone... 

Oxidation of thiophene with peracid under carefully controlled conditions gives a mixture of thiophene sulfoxide and 2-hydroxythiophene sulfoxide. These compounds are trapped by addition to benzoquinone to give ultimately naphthoquinone (225) and its 5-hydroxy derivative (226) (76ACS(B)353). The further oxidation of the sulfoxide yields the sulfone, which may function as a diene or dienophile in the Diels-Alder reaction (Scheme 88). An azulene synthesis involves the addition of 6-(A,A-dimethylamino)fulvene (227) to a thiophene sulfone (77TL639, 77JA4199). 

The synthetic procedure described is based on that reported earlier for the synthesis on a smaller scale of anthracene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, dibenz[a,c]anthracene, and phenanthrene in excellent yields from the corresponding quinones. Although reduction of quinones with HI and phosphorus was described in the older literature, relatively drastic conditions were employed and mixtures of polyhydrogenated derivatives were the principal products. The relatively milder experimental procedure employed herein appears generally applicable to the reduction of both ortho- and para-quinones directly to the fully aromatic polycyclic arenes. The method is apparently inapplicable to quinones having an olefinic bond, such as o-naphthoquinone, since an analogous reaction of the latter provides a product of undetermined structure (unpublished result). As shown previously, phenols and hydro-quinones, implicated as intermediates in the reduction of quinones by HI, can also be smoothly deoxygenated to fully aromatic polycyclic arenes under conditions similar to those described herein. 

The fact that pentacarbonyl carbene complexes react with enynes in a chemo-selective and regiospecific way at the alkyne functionality was successfully applied in the total synthesis of vitamins of the Kj and K2 series [58]. Oxidation of the intermediate tricarbonyl(dihydrovitamin K) chromium complexes with silver oxide afforded the desired naphthoquinone-based vitamin K compounds 65. Compared to customary strategies, the benzannulation reaction proved to be superior as it avoids conditions favouring (E)/(Z)-isomerisation within the allylic side chain. The basic representative vitamin K3 (menadione) 66 was synthesised in a straightforward manner from pentacarbonyl carbene complex 1 and propyne (Scheme 38). 

Nanaomycin A 103 and deoxyfrenolicin 108 are members of a group of naphthoquinone antibiotics based on the isochroman skeleton. The therapeutic potential of these natural products has attracted considerable attention, and different approaches towards their synthesis have been reported [65,66]. The key step in the total synthesis of racemic nanaomycin A 103 is the chemo-and regioselective benzannulation reaction of carbene complex 101 and allylacety-lene 100 to give allyl-substituted naphthoquinone 102 after oxidative workup in 52% yield [65] (Scheme 47). The allyl functionality is crucial for a subsequent intramolecular alkoxycarbonylation to build up the isochroman structure. However, modest yields and the long sequence required to introduce the... 

For that reason an intramolecular benzannulation was developed, which incorporates all components for the intramolecular alkoxycarbonylation into the naphthoquinone 105 [65]. Based on that strategy a short and convergent pathway for the synthesis of racemic deoxyfrenolicin 108 was accomplished. Xu et al. replaced the allylacetylene 100 in the reaction sequence for nanaomycin A by alkynoate 106. The benzannulation product 107 was an appropriate precursor for a subsequent tandem oxa-Pictet-Spengler cyclisation/DDQ-induced coupling reaction [66]. Following this strategy the total synthesis of enan-tiomerically pure deoxyfrenolicin could be accomplished (Scheme 48). 

Gates, M. (1950) The Synthesis of Ring Systems Related to Morphine. III. 5,6-Dimethoxy-4-cyanomethyl-1,2-naphthoquinone and its Condensation with Dienes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 72, 228-234. 

The synthesis of the naphthoquinone 116 is shown in Scheme 3.24. Bromination of juglone (118) afforded the dibromojuglone derivative 134. Protection of the phenol group as its methoxymethyl ether formed the product 135 (50 % yield over two steps). Finally, the C-3 bromide substituent was regioselectively substituted with methoxide by heating 135 in methanol in the presence of sodium carbonate (96 %). The methoxy group was installed to impart electronic bias to the naphthoquinone in the TASF(Et) coupling (vide infra). 

Typically, the synthesis of block B involves the Diels-Alder reaction of 1,4-naphthoquinone with cyclopentadiene, followed by reduction and OH methylation to give 92 (Scheme 33). The next step involves a Ru-catalysed [2+2] cycloaddition of 92 with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD), followed by epoxidation (MeLi, BuOOH) to give 94 as block B. 

Oxidation of the aminonaphthols 91 gives the quinone spiroketals 92, analogues of palmarumycin <00TL9105>. The first total synthesis of (+)-diepoxin a 93 has been achieved from a naphthoquinone . 

Other mediators which have been used in combination with diaphorase for the regeneration of NAD+ are riboflavin and Vitamin K3, which is 2,3-dimethyl-1,4-naphthoquinone. However, especially riboflavin is not stable enough for synthetic applications [40]. Better stability is exhibited by phenanthrolindiones as mediators. In combination with diaphorase, Ohshiro [41] showed the indirect electrochemical oxidation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone using the NAD+ dependent HLADH with a turnover frequency of two per hour. For an effective enzymatic synthesis, this turnover frequency, however, would be too small. In our own studies, we were able to accelerate the NAD(P)+ regeneration considerably by lowering the electron density within the... 

Compounds showing vitamin K activity are substituted naphthoquinones. The parent compound, 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone, does show some biological activity as do other similar but synthetic compounds. The production of the complete naturally active forms is thought to depend upon the addition of an isoprene chain at position 3 on the aromatic ring. Differences in this side chain produce the various K vitamins (Figure 12.10). A most important physiological role of vitamin K is in the synthesis of the blood clotting factors, II (prothrombin), VII, IX and X. 

Atovaquone is a hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, an analog of ubiquinone, with antipneumocystic activity. Since 2000 atovaquone is available as a fixed dose preparation (Malarone) with proguanil for the oral treatment of falciperum malaria. Its activity probably is based on a selective inhibiton of mitochondrial electron transport with consequent inhibition of pyrimidin synthesis. Malarone should not be used to treat severe malaria, when an injectable drug is needed. 

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