Lactone Natural Products

Polyketide stereotetrads in natural products (lactones, particularly, erythromycin) 05CSR677. 

Many natural products are lactones and it is not unusual to find examples m which the ring size is rather large A few naturally occurring lactones are shown m Figure 19 8 The macrohde antibiotics of which erythromycin is one example are macrocychc (large ring) lactones The lactone ring of erythromycin is 14 membered... 

The avermectins are closely related to another group of pesticidal natural products, the milhemycins. First described by Japanese workers, milhemycins were later found to be more abundant in nature than the avermectins (7—12). Both the avermectins and milhemycins are sixteen-memhered lactones, with a spiroketal system containing two six-memhered rings. The principal difference between them is that the avermectins have an a-L-oleandrosyl-a-L-oleandrosyl disaccharide attached at the 13-position whereas the milhemycins have no 13-substituent. Milhemycin stmctures are shown in Figure 2. 

Atroposelective cleavage of configurationally unstable lactone cycle in biaryl derivatives as effective route to chiral natural products and useful reagents 99S525. 

Development and applications of new reactions for construction of basic structures of natural products, in particular proapoporphine alkaloids and lactones 99YZ357. 

The results obtained showed that carbon, oxygen, or nitrogen functionalities are readily introduced into the a,p positions of the lactone moiety. In this way, useful precursors for natural product synthesis are accessible (88TL5317). 

The Baeyer-Villiger oxidation is a synthetically very useful reaction it is for example often used in the synthesis of natural products. The Corey lactone 11 is a key intermediate in the total synthesis of the physiologically active prostaglandins. It can be prepared from the lactone 10, which in turn is obtained from the bicyclic ketone 9 by reaction with m-chloroperbenzoic acid (MCPBA) " ... 

Natural product total syntheses are particularly valuable when they are attended by the development of general utility methods of synthesis. In some instances, the successful completion of a natural product total synthesis requires the development and application of a new synthetic method. The total synthesis of erythronolide B by Corey et al. is one of these instances. The double activation macro-lactonization method was a fruitful innovation that was introduced in response to the challenge presented by the macrocyclic structures of the erythromycins. Several other methods to achieve the same objective, and numerous applications followed. 

With the polycyclic framework of the natural product intact, the completion of the total synthesis only requires a short sequence of reactions. At this juncture, the decision was made to address the problem of reconstituting the A-ring lactone. It was hoped that a selective oxidation of the A-ring allylic ether could be achieved. 

An (E)-selective CM reaction with an acrylate (Scheme 61) was applied by Smith and O Doherty in the enantioselective synthesis of three natural products with cyclooxygenase inhibitory activity (cryptocarya triacetate (312), cryptocaryolone (313), and cryptocaryolone diacetate (314)) [142]. CM reaction of homoallylic alcohol 309 with ethyl acrylate mediated by catalyst C led (E)-selectively to d-hydroxy enoate 310 in near quantitative yield. Subsequent Evans acetal-forming reaction of 310, which required the trans double bond in 310 to prevent lactonization, led to key intermediate 311 that was converted to 312-314. 

The high chemoselectivity for the Baeyer-Villiger process was utilized in the synthetic elaboration of another hetero-bicyclic substrate. The biooxidation only provides the expected unsaturated lactone in a desymmetrization reaction without compromising the olefin functionality. The biotransformation product was then converted to pivotal intermediates for C-nucleosides like showdomycin, tetrahydro-furan natural products like kumausyne, and goniofufurone analogs in subsequent chemical operations (Scheme 9.17) [161]. 

Both chiral lactones and ketones have been utilized in asymmetric synthesis of bioactive compounds like lipoic acid [175[ and natural products like various insect pheromones [176[. 

Example The lactone (8>, needed for a natural product synthesis, might be made from (6) via epoxide (7) and so a synthesis for (6) was required. Wittlg disconnection reveals a 1,5-dicarbonyl compound (9), best made by Michael addition of a substituted malonate (11) to enone (10). The enone was made by the simple but reliable Grignard route rather than risking a Mannich reaction of unknown regloselectivity. 

The epothilones are natural products containing a 16-membered lactone ring that are isolated from mycobacteria. Epothilones A-D differ in the presence of the C(12)-C(13) epoxide and in the C(12) methyl group. Although structurally very different from Taxol, they have a similar mechanism of anticancer action and epothilone A and its analogs are of substantial current interest as chemotherapeutic agents.36 Schemes 13.59 to 13.66 summarize eight syntheses of epothilone A. Several syntheses of epothilone B have also been completed.37... 

When the natural product source contains racemic mixtures (of isomeric forms), then clearly the assignment of signal value to either or both variants of a compound needs to be determined. Alterations in receptor detection of chirality can change sensitivity to the geometrically alternate compound over the range 101 to 106. Of the lactones passed into urine and deposited on tarsal hairs of Black-tailed deer (Odocoileus... 

One of the best methods to synthesize cyclopentenone derivatives is the Pauson-Khand procedure. However, Shindo s group have recently developed a domino process consisting of a [2+2] cycloaddition of a ketone with anynolate, followed by a Dieckmann condensation to give a 3-lactone as 4-190 which is decarboxylated under reflux in toluene in the presence of silica gel to afford cyclopentenones [64a]. Thus, the reaction of 4-188 and 4-189 led to 4-190, which on heating furnished the linear cucumin 4-191 (Scheme 4.41). This natural product has been isolated from the mycelial cultures of the agaric Macrocystidia cucumis [65, 66]. The domino procedure described was also used to synthesize dihydrojasmone and a-cuparenone. Moreover, the [2+2] cycloaddition can be combined with a Michael reaction [64b]. 

A convenient procedure for the lactonization of alkenols has been recently revealed by Borhan and coworkers [19]. This methodology was successfully applied in the total synthesis of (+)-tanikolide (7-37), a natural product of marine origin which exhibits antifungal activities. Thus, when alkenol 7-36 is subjected to soluble oxone and a catalytic amount of 0s04, a smooth domino oxidative cleavage/lactonization process takes place which leads, after debenzylation, to the desired product in good overall yield (Scheme 7.12). 

Dianions derived from cyclic a-nitro ketones have been used for the preparation of the natural product phoracanthlide and related macrocyclic lactones (see Scheme 5.2).13 Alkylation of dianion of a-nitro cyclic ketones is followed by radical denitration with Bu3SnH (see Section... 

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