Natural products ring systems

The rhodium( 11)-catalyzed formation of 1,3-dipoles has played a major role in facilitating the use of the dipolar cycloaddition reaction in modern organic synthesis. This is apparent from the increasing number of applications of this chemistry for the construction of heterocyclic and natural product ring systems. This chapter initially focuses on those aspects of rhodium(II) catalysis that control dipole formation and reactivity, and concludes with a sampling of the myriad examples that exist in the Hterature today. 

The ability to produce 1,3-dipoles, through the rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of diazo carbonyl compounds, provides unique opportunities for the accomplishment of a variety of cycloaddition reactions, in both an intra- and intermolecular sense. These transformations are often highly regio- and diastereoselective, making them extremely powerful tools for synthetic chemistry. This is exemplified in the number of applications of this chemistry to the construction of heterocyclic and natural-product ring systems. Future developments are likely to focus on the enantioselective and combinatorial variants of these reactions. 

L-Rhamnose derived 89 was the starting point for a synthesis of isochromanquinone natural product (-)-manaomycin D 92. An n2 intramolecular mesylate displacement followed by DIBAL reduction and hemiacetal silylation and lithiation gave 91, and addition to cyclobutenone 93, followed by reamngement and oxidation, led to the product ring system (Scheme 23). 

The silyl enol ethers 209 and 212 are considered to be sources of carbanions. and their transmetallation with Pd(OAc)2 forms the Pd enolate 210. or o.w-tt-allylpalladium, which undergoes the intramolecular alkene insertion and. 1-elimination to give 3-methylcyclopentenone (211) and a bicyclic system 213[199], Five- and six-membered rings can be prepared by this reaction[200]. Use of benzoquinone makes the reaction catalytic. The reaction has been used for syntheses of skeletons of natural products, such as the phyllocladine intermediate 214[201], capnellene[202], the stemodin intermediate 215[203] and hir-sutene [204]. 

Subsequently, other structural variations were reported encompassing compounds such as PS-5 (5) (5), carpetimycin A (6) (6), asparenomycin A (7) (7), and pluracidomycin A (8) (8), from a wide variety of streptomycete strains. Following these stmctures the simplest member of the series, having the completely unsubstituted nucleus, (1, X = CH2), was isolated from bacterial strains of Serratia and Ervinia (9). AH other natural products reported have substituents at both the C-6 and C-2 positions of the bicycHc ring system. Differences in the nature and stereochemistry of these substituents has provided a wide variety of stmctures, and over forty variations have been reported and comprehensively Hsted (10). 

Garbapenem P-Lactamase Inhibitors. Carbapenems are another class of natural product P-lactamase inhibitors discovered about the same time as clavulanic acid. Over forty naturally occurring carbapenems have been identified many are potent P-lactamase inhibitors. Garbapenem is the trivial name for the l-a2abicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene ring system (21) shown in Table 3. The synthesis (74), biosynthesis (75), and P-lactamase inhibitory properties (13,14,66) of carbapenems have been reviewed. Carbapenems are often more potent than clavulanic acid and include type I Cephases in the spectmm of inhibition. Table 3 Hsts the available P-lactamase inhibition data. Synergy is frequendy difficult to demonstrate because the compounds are often potent antibacterials. 

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. 

There appear to be no reports of direct radical attack on the pyridopyrimidine ring system, but radical bromination of methyl substituents in the 7-position of the pyridine ring has been utilized in the synthesis of deaza analogues of natural products (62JCS4678, 79JHC133). 

A classic diagnostic use of such stereochemical requirements, due to Ruzicka, is the ring contraction induced in natural products containing the 4,4-dimethyl-5a-3 -ol system (94). The epimeric, axial 3a-alcohols (95) dehydrate without ring contraction. Barton suggested that it is necessary for the four reacting centers (hydroxyl, C-3, C-4, C-5) to be coplanar for ring contraction to occur, and this is only the case with the 3)5-alcohol. 

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). 

Another natural polymer that needs a fresh look into its structure and properties is bitumen [123], also called asphaltines, that are used in highway construction. Although a petroleum by-product, it is a naturally existing polymer. It primarily consists of polynuclear aromatic and cyclocaliphatic ring systems and possesses a lamellar-type structure. It is a potential material that requires more study, and high-performance materials such as liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) could be made from it. 

For the synthesis of the complex natural product, the terminus six-membered ketone 55 had to be transformed into an oxepane ring. For this necessary transformation, the authors were attracted by the single-carbon homologation of a pyr-anone (a sort of ring-expansion) because, in prindple, it could be used in an iterative sense at any stage of the 6-endo cydization in their poly-TH P-based synthetic approach for the synthesis of trans-fused 6,7,6 (THP-oxepane-THP) and 6,7,7 (THP-oxepane-oxepane) ring systems [28]. Treatment of ketone 55 with TMSCHN2... 

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