Natural products cyclizations

Asymmetric syntheses of natural products cyclization reactions using molybdenum and tungsten imido alkylidene complexes as efficient olefin-metathesis catalysts 03AG(E)4592. 

The achiral triene chain of (a//-rrans-)-3-demethyl-famesic ester as well as its (6-cis-)-isoiner cyclize in the presence of acids to give the decalol derivative with four chirai centres whose relative configuration is well defined (P.A. Stadler, 1957 A. Escherunoser, 1959 W.S. Johnson, 1968, 1976). A monocyclic diene is formed as an intermediate (G. Stork, 1955). With more complicated 1,5-polyenes, such as squalene, oily mixtures of various cycliz-ation products are obtained. The 18,19-glycol of squalene 2,3-oxide, however, cyclized in modest yield with picric acid catalysis to give a complex tetracyclic natural product with nine chiral centres. Picric acid acts as a protic acid of medium strength whose conjugated base is non-nucleophilic. Such acids activate oxygen functions selectively (K.B. Sharpless, 1970). 

The cyclization to form very congested quaternary carbon centers involving the intramolecular insertion of di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted alkenes is particularly useful for natural products synthesis[l36-138], In the total synthesis of gelsemine, the cyclization of 166 has been carried out, in which very severe steric hindrance is e.xpected. Interestingly, one stereoisomer 167... 

Using a,P-unsaturated acyl halides, alkenes are acylated to give a,P,a, P -unsaturated ketones, which undergo spontaneous intramolecular Na2arov cyclizations to cyclopentenones, important precursors of natural products (173). 

ISlew Synthetic Approaches. There have been a number of efforts to prepare quinolines by routes quite different from the traditional methods. In one, the cyclization of 3-ariiino-3-phenyl-2-alkerLiniines (18) using alkah metals leads to modest yields of various 4-arylaminoqurnolines (54). Because this stmcture is found in many natural products and few syntheses of it exist, the method merits further investigation. 

A similar oxazolidine-based strategy was employed in the syntheses of R-(+)-anatabine (84) and (+)-benzomorphan (85), utilizing Zincke-derived salts 80 and 81, respectively (Scheme 8.4.26). In these cases, borohydride reduction, followed by cyclization, led to oxazolidines 82 and 83 as substrates for organometallic addition and subsequent elaboration to the natural products... 

The Bischler-Napieralski reaction involves the cyclization of phenethyl amides 1 in the presence of dehydrating agents such as P2O5 or POCI3 to afford 3,4-dihydroisoquinoline products 2. This reaction is one of the most commonly employed and versatile methods for the synthesis of the isoquinoline ring system, which is found in a large number of alkaloid natural products. The Bischler-Napieralski reaction is also frequently used for the conversion of N-acyl tryptamine derivatives 3 into p-carbolines 4 (eq 2). 

Martin has achieved the synthesis of lycoramine (59) via a Bischler-Napieralski cyclization of 58 in the final step of the synthesis. Treatment of 58 with POCI3 followed by NaBHi provided the natural product 59 in 68% yield. 

The Pictet-Spengler condensation has been of vital importance in the synthesis of numerous P-carboline and isoquinoline compounds in addition to its use in the formation of alkaloid natural products of complex structure. A tandem retro-aldol and Pictet-Spengler sequence was utilized in a concise and enantioselective synthesis of 18-pseudoyohimbone. Amine 49 cyclized under acidic conditions to give the condensation product 50 in good yield. Deprotection of the ketone produced the indole alkaloid 51. 

Ebumamonine was assembled utilizing a Pictet-Spengler cyclization of hydroxy-lactam 52 in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid at low temperature to give a mixture of diastereomers 53 in 95% yield. These compounds were readily separated by chromatography and the a-epimer was further elaborated to give the natural product. 

The synthetic utility of radical cyclization was used as the key step in a four-step synthesis of the natural product (d,0-epilupinine (134b, a quinolizidine alkaloid) (75CB1043) from methyl nicotinate (146). Thus, l-(4-bromobutyl)-3-methoxycarbonyl-l,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridine (140), obtained from methyl nicotinate (146), was cyclized to 141 (43%), which on reduction with LiAlH4 in THF provided 134b in 95% yield (89T5269). 

The cycloaromatization of enediynes, having a structure like 1, proceeds via formation of a benzenoid 1,4-diradical 2, and is commonly called the Bergman cyclization. It is a relatively recent reaction that has gained importance especially during the last decade. The unusual structural element of enediynes as 1 has been found in natural products (such as calicheamicine and esperamicine) which show a remarkable biological activity... 

Myers has discovered a related reaction of the natural product neocarzinostatine 8 (simplified structure). As in the case of the Bergman cyclization a diradical intermediate is generated by a chemical activation step taking place at the reaction site, where it then can cleave DNA. Because of this feature, together with its discriminating affinity towards different DNA strands, neocarzinostatine is regarded as a potential antitumor agent. 

At present the synthetic importance of both the Bergman cyclization and the Myers reaction remains rather small. However, because of the considerable biological activity of the natural products mentioned above, there is great mechanistic interest in these reactions in connection with the mode of action of DNA cleavage. 

A variant on this structure, dioxyline, has much the same activity as the natural product but shows a better therapeutic ratio. Reduction of the oxime (113) from 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl-acetone (112) affords the veratrylamine homolog bearing a methyl group on the amine carbon atom (114). Acylation of this with 4-ethoxy-3-methoxyphenyl acetyl chloride gives the corresponding amide (115). Cyclization by means of phosphorus oxychloride followed by dehydrogenation over palladium yields dioxyline (116). ... 

Hirsutene (1) and A9(,2,-capnellcnc (2), the parent members of the hirsutane and capnellane families of triquinane natural products, respectively, are isomeric molecules that possess four contiguous stereogenic centers, one of which is quaternary. The linearly fused tricyclopentanoid frameworks of compounds 1 and 2 are obviously very similar, differing only with respect to the positions of the three methyl groups. An asset of Curran s tandem radical cyclization strategy is that it provides a unified entry into a wide variety of linear condensed cyclopentanoid natural products. As a result, it is possible to devise nearly identical retrosynthetic pathways for these structurally related molecules. 

The intramolecular Heck reaction presented in Scheme 8 is also interesting and worthy of comment. Rawal s potentially general strategy for the stereocontrolled synthesis of the Strychnos alkaloids is predicated on the palladium-mediated intramolecular Heck reaction. In a concise synthesis of ( )-dehydrotubifoline [( )-40],22 Rawal et al. accomplished the conversion of compound 36 to the natural product under the conditions of Jeffery.23 In this ring-forming reaction, the a-alkenylpalladium(n) complex formed in the initial oxidative addition step engages the proximate cyclohexene double bond in a Heck cyclization, affording enamine 39 after syn /2-hydride elimination. The latter substance is a participant in a tautomeric equilibrium with imine ( )-40, which happens to be shifted substantially in favor of ( )-40. 

Our strategy is based on the premise that the 31-membered ring and the conjugated triene array of the natural product could be fashioned simultaneously by a tandem inter-/intramolecular Stille coupling. Moreover, the mild conditions under which Stille couplings can be performed fueled hopes that the crucial stitching cycliza-tion could be conducted on a fully deprotected seco bis(vinyl iodide) (see 145, Schemes 40 and 54) the stitching cyclization would thus be the final operation in the synthesis. 

It is important to emphasize that the hydroxy dithioketal cyclization can be conducted under mild reaction conditions and can be successfully applied to a variety of substrates.15 However, the utility of this method for the synthesis of didehydrooxocane-contain-ing natural products requires the diastereoselective, reductive removal of the ethylthio group. Gratifyingly, treatment of 13 with triphenyltin hydride and a catalytic amount of the radical initiator, azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN), accomplishes a homolytic cleavage of the C-S bond and furnishes didehydrooxocane 14 in diastereo-merically pure form (95 % yield), after hydrogen atom transfer. 

The 6-endo activated epoxy alcohol cyclization process was also expected to play a central role in the annulation of pyran ring G of the natural product (see Scheme 22). Silylation of the free secondary hydroxyl group in compound 131 furnishes, after hydrobora-tion/oxidation of the double bond, compound 132. Swern oxidation of alcohol 132 produces an aldehyde which reacts efficiently with (ethoxycarbonylethylidene)triphenylphosphorane in the presence of a catalytic amount of benzoic acid in benzene at 50 °C, furnishing... 

For the construction of the I ring, the vinylic group introduced to activate the y-hydroxy epoxide moiety of 28 towards cyclization is an acrylic ester residue, which concomitantly allows cyclization on the allylic position, with formation of the tricyclic compound 29 containing the IJK fragment of the natural product, and fur-... 

A direct application of the ring-opening reaction of an epoxide by a metal enolate amide for the synthesis of a complex molecule can be found in the synthesis of the trisubstituted cyclopentane core of brefeldin A (Scheme 8.35) [68a]. For this purpose, treatment of epoxy amide 137 with excess KH in THF gave a smooth cyclization to amide 138, which was subsequently converted into the natural product. No base/solvent combination that would effect cyclization of the corresponding aldehyde or ester could be found. 

M-Acyliminium cyclizations of optically active mono- and di-oxygenated hydroxylactam derivatives have been used in the synthesis of a number of natural products. In case of a five-membered lactam the oxygen function adjacent to the iminium carbon directs attack of the internal nucleophile from the least hindered side, opposite to the substituent. In the examples given the size of the newly formed ring is determined by the electronic bias of the alkene substituent. 

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