Oxacycle synthesis

Carbon-nitrogen multiple bonds serve as intramolecular radical acceptors for oxacycle synthesis. Many oxacyclic natural products are synthesized via carbocycle-forming radical reactions of oxacyclic substrates. Oxygen-centered radicals play an important role in oxacycle synthesis, which frequently involves initial hydrogen abstraction and subsequent displacement reactions. Many different kinds of inter-molecular radical reactions are also of considerable practical value in the synthesis of a plethora of oxacyclic natural products. 

Advances in applying these studies to stereoselective oxacycle synthesis have been critically dependent upon the development of enantioselective epoxidation methods. Extensive research into designing these reactions has resulted in a wide range of structurally distinct epoxides being available in enantiomerically pure form through experimentally facile methods that utilize easily accessible catalysts. These enabling methods assure that substrate synthesis will not limit further exploration in epoxide-based cyclization reaction development. 

The conversion of a thiolactone to a cyclic ether can also be used as a key step in the synthesis of functionalized, stereochemically complex oxacycles (see 64—>66, Scheme 13). Nucleophilic addition of the indicated higher order cuprate reagent to the C-S double bond in thiolactone 64 furnishes a tetrahedral thiolate ion which undergoes smooth conversion to didehydrooxepane 65 upon treatment with 1,4-diiodobutane and the non-nucleophilic base 1,2,2,6,6-pentamethylpiperidine (pempidine).27 Regio- and diastereoselective hydroboration of 65 then gives alcohol 66 in 89 % yield after oxidative workup. Versatile vinylstannanes can also be accessed from thiolactones.28 For example, treatment of bis(thiolactone) 67 with... 

Tandem 5-exo-oxacyclizations of polyepoxides to form polycyclic ethers are well known. In Evans s synthesis of lonomycin A, diepoxide 66 underwent the desired... 

Based on a transformation described by Catellani and coworkers [61], the Lautens group [62] developed a three-component domino reaction catalyzed by palladium for the synthesis of benzo annulated oxacycles 6/1-114 (Scheme 6/1.30). As substrates, these authors used a m-iodoaryl iodoalkyl ether 6/1-113, an alkene substi-... 

When Wacker-type reactions are performed under a CO atmosphere, the (3-H elimination pathway can be suppressed in favor of CO insertion and subsequent nucleophilic cleavage of the acyl metal species.399 This alkoxycarbonylation process has found widespread utility, particularly in the synthesis of five- and six-membered oxacyclic natural products. For example, the THF core of tetronomycin was prepared by the Pd-catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation of 4-alkenol derivatives (Equations (117) and (118)), where stereocontrol was achieved by utilizing either the directing ability of a free hydroxyl or the conformational bias imposed by a bulky silyl ether.420 Additional examples making... 

An interesting variant involves the use of an allylic alcohol as the alkene component. In this process, re-oxidation of the catalyst is unnecessary since the cyclization occurs with /Uoxygen elimination of the incipient cr-Pd species to effect an SN2 type of ring closure. Both five- and six-membered oxacycles have been prepared in this fashion using enol, hemiacetal, and aliphatic alcohol nucleophiles.439,440 With a chiral allylic alcohol substrate, the initial 7r-complexation may be directed by the hydroxyl group,441 as demonstrated by the diastereoselective cyclization used in the synthesis of (—)-laulimalide (Equation (120)).442 Note that the oxypalladation takes place with syn-selectivity, in analogy with the cyclization of phenol nucleophiles (1vide supra). 

D-Ribonolactone is a convenient source of chiral cyclopentenones, acyclic structures, and oxacyclic systems, useful intermediates for the synthesis of biologically important molecules. Cyclopentenones derived from ribono-lactone have been employed for the synthesis of prostanoids and carbocyclic nucleosides. The cyclopentenone 280 was synthesized (265) from 2,3-0-cyclohexylidene-D-ribono-1,4-lactone (16b) by a threestep synthesis that involves successive periodate oxidation, glycosylation of the lactol with 2-propanol to give 279, and treatment of 279 with lithium dimethyl methyl-phosphonate. The enantiomer of 280 was prepared from D-mannose by converting it to the corresponding lactone, which was selectively protected at HO-2, HO-3 by acetalization. Likewise, the isopropylidene derivative 282 was obtained (266) via the intermediate unsaturated lactone 281, prepared from 16a. Reduction of 281 with di-tert-butoxy lithium aluminum hydride, followed by mesylation, gave 282. 

A solid-phase synthesis of furo[3,2-3]pyran derivatives utilizing highly functionalized sugar templates has been reported <2003JOC9406>. After incorporation of alkenes within the sugar template, such as compound 95, the solid support is introduced via formation of the acid amide. This immobilized system then allows a ruthenium-catalyzed ring-closing metathesis that leads to the formation of the fused oxacycles. 

Boron trifluoride etherate promotes the fWt/a-selcctivc oxacyclization of polyepoxides derived from various acyclic terpenoid polyalkenes, including geraniol, farnesol, and geranylgeraniol, providing an efficient and stereoselective synthesis of substituted oxepanes and fused polyoxepanes. The oxacyclization transformations may mimic ringforming steps in the biosynthesis of trans-syn-trans-fused polycyclic ether marine natural products <2002JOC2515>. 

A versatile approach to spiro-oxacycles is the use of cyclic a-methylene enol ethers employed by us in an efficient and short enantioselective total synthesis of the mycotoxin talaromycin B (see Sect. 7.1). Later Pale and Vogel [148] employed the same protocol for the preparation of spiroacetals 2-145 using e.g. acrolein 2-78, methyl vinyl ketone and 2-pentenal, respectively with the enol ether 2-143 (Fig. 2-39). In most cases the yields were only modest, however, reaction of 2-143 and 2-78 in benzene in the presence of the mild Lewis acid ZnCl2 gave 2-145 in 70% yield as a single adduct. 

RCM reactions are most frequently employed in the synthesis of 2,5-dihydrofurans as well as dihydropyrrole derivatives . Likewise, RCM provides the most general approach to 3,6-dihydropyrans . In a specific example, dihydropyran 127 bearing a chiral oxacyclic diene can be constructed via enyne metathesis of the chiral ether 126 (Scheme 68) <2002T5627>. The analogous tetrahydropyridine derivatives are prepared by a similar RCM procedure . 

Similarly, Lautens and coworkers could readily expand this concept to the synthesis of 2-substituted-4-benzoxepines and 2,5-disubstituted-4-benzoxepines [75], and in an intermolecular-intramolecular bisalkylation-alkenylation sequence to the syntheses of oxacycles such 2,3-dihydro-... 

Intramolecular Heck reactions for building up complex oxacyclic skeletons are a common theme in the synthesis of natural products. These reactions are exceptionally valuable for the installation of quaternary carbon stereocenters. In the morphine total syntheses by Overman <1994PAC1423> and Trost et al., intramolecular Heck reactions to form dihydrobenzofurans served as strategic key steps (Equation 138) <2005JA14785>. Asymmetric variants of intramolecular Heck reactions based on BINAP ligands to yield dihydrobenzofurans have also been investigated <1998T4579>. 

Sibi et al. reported an elegant new tandem radical addition-cyclization process for the synthesis of oxacycles [122]. The method relies on the inter-molecular addition of alkyl radical to a doubly activated Michael acceptor moiety, followed by a cyclization step (Scheme 39). The outcome of the re-... 

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