Polyene cyclization initiators

Burke et al. [84] synthetised nagilactone F (55) by a polyenic cyclization initiated with acetal and concluded with vinylsilane, giving an overall yield of 6%. The key steps in this synthesis were the coupling of substrates 166 and 167 with control of the absolute and relative stereochemistry, the cationic biscyclization to form the intermediate tricyclic trans-anti-trans 169 and the formation of the D ring by regio-selective intramolecular remote functionalization. 

Smith and Dieter have demonstrated that /8y-unsaturated diazo-ketones, previously employed in the synthesis of cyclopentenones, may possess considerable potential as polyene cyclization initiators (Scheme 26) and Sutherland et al. have reported an efficient synthetic route to the aldehyde (117) capable of Wittig-Schlosser condensation affording substrates for epoxyolefin cyclization. ... 

Acyl radicals can be generated and they cyclize in the usual manner. A polyene-cyclization reaction generated four rings, initiating the sequence by treatment of a phenylseleno ester with Bu3SnH/AIBN to form the acyl radical, which added to the first alkene unit. The newly formed carbon radical added to the next alkene, and so on. Acyl radicals generated firom Ts(R)NCOSePh derivatives cyclize to form lactams. ... 

Polyene Cyclization. Perhaps the most synthetically useful of the carbo-cation alkylation reactions is the cyclization of polyenes having two or more double bonds positioned in such a way that successive bond-forming steps can occur. This process, called polyene cyclization, has proven to be an effective way of making polycyclic compounds containing six-membered and, in some cases, five-membered rings. The reaction proceeds through an electrophilic attack and requires that the double bonds that participate in the cyclization be properly positioned. For example, compound 1 is converted quantitatively to 2 on treatment with formic acid. The reaction is initiated by protonation and ionization of the allylic alcohol and is terminated by nucleophilic capture of the cyclized secondary carbocation. 

Scheme 10.1 gives some representative examples of laboratory syntheses involving polyene cyclization. The cyclization in Entry 1 is done in anhydrous formic acid and involves the formation of a symmetric tertiary allylic carbocation. The cyclization forms a six-membered ring by attack at the terminal carbon of the vinyl group. The bicyclic cation is captured as the formate ester. Entry 2 also involves initiation by a symmetric allylic cation. In this case, the triene unit cyclizes to a tricyclic ring system. Entry 3 results in the formation of the steroidal skeleton with termination by capture of the alkynyl group and formation of a ketone. The cyclization in Entry 4 is initiated by epoxide opening. 

As with carbocation-initiated polyene cyclizations, radical cyclizations can proceed through several successive steps if the steric and electronic properties of the reactant provide potential reaction sites. Cyclization may be followed by a second intramolecular step or by an intermolecular addition or alkylation. Intermediate radicals can be constructed so that hydrogen atom transfer can occur as part of the overall process. For example, 2-bromohexenes having radical stabilizing substituents at C(6) can undergo cyclization after a hydrogen atom transfer step.348... 

Stereoisomeric alcohols (93) and (94) yielded identical ring-expansion products [e.g. (97)] on formation of carbocations.168 This is evidence of a stepwise reaction in sterol biosynthesis, whereby a tertiary cation [e.g. the model (95)] rearranges to a secondary cation (96)-an anti-Markovnikov rearrangement . The synthetic aspects of biomimetic cyclizations of isoprenoid polyenes were reviewed.169 Included was a detailed discussion of carbenium ion-initiated cyclizations, with a discussion of the different mechanisms that have been proposed. A novel biomimetic carbocation polyene cyclization of a daurichromenic ester was reported an unusual 2 + 2-carbocation cyclization occurred as a side reaction.170... 

Scheme 1. Epoxide-initiated, enantiospecific polyene cyclizations of the substrates 3 and 5 to the synthetic precursors (4 and 6) of the marine natural products scaiarenedial and adociasulfate 1.

This polyene cyclization is the first reported example that employs the /S -keto ester unit as initiator. Substances related to 3 exhibit anti-tumor properties. 

Coverage in this chapter is restricted to the use of alkenes or alkynes as enophiles (equation 1 X = Y = C) and to the use of ene components in which a hydrogen is transferred. Coverage in Sections 1.2 and 1.3 is restricted to ene components in which all three heavy atoms are carbon (equation 1 Z = C). Thermal intramolecular ene reactions of enols (equation 1 Z = O) with unactivated alkenes are presented in Section 1.4. Metallo-ene reactions are covered in the following chapter. Use of carbonyl compounds as enophiles, which can be considered as a subset of the Prins reaction, is covered in depth in Volume 2, Chtqiter 2.1. Addition of enophiles to vinylsilanes and allylsilanes is covered in Volume 2, Chapter 2.2, while addition of enophiles to enol ethers is covered in Volume 2, Chapters 2.3-2.S. Addition of imines and iminium compounds to alkenes is presented in Volume 2, Part 4. Use of alkenes, aldehydes and acetals as initiators for polyene cyclizations is covered in Volume 3, Chapter 1.9. Coverage of singlet oxygen, azo, nitroso, S=N, S=0, Se=N or Se=0 enophiles are excluded since these reactions do not result in the formation of a carbon-carbon bond. 

Despite extensive studies on acid-catalyzed diastereoselective polyene-cyclizations, their enantioselective behavior have not yet been reported. The stereochemical implications of polyene-cyclizations can be explained by the Stork-Eschenmoser hypothesis [140], and the most important feature required for an artificial cyclase is asymmetric induction during the initial protonation. Very recently, the author and Yamamoto et al. succeeded in the first enantioselective biomimetic cyclization of polypre-noids catalyzed by LB A [141]. 

In a more impressive polyene cyclization, reaction of the optically active allylic alcohol 147 with trifluoroacetic acid and ethylene carbonate followed by workup with K2CO3 in aqueous methanol furnished the optically active product 150. The reaction is initiated by a yyn-selective SN2 reaction with allylic rearrangement (Sn2 ) and proceeds through the carbonate-trapped intermediate 149. Likewise, the reaction of the enantiomer of 147 furnished the enantiomer of 150. The cyclization step was essentially enantiospecific. The process involves total asymmetric synthesis due to a single chiral center in the starting allyl alcohol [24]. 

The ene and Prins reactions are not mechanistically distinct. Coverage will therefore be organized by the nature of the carbonyl compound, with intermolecular reactions presented first, followed by intramolecular reactions. The emphasis will be on material published since the field has been reviewed " and on examples demonstrating the stereo-, regio- and chemo-selectivity of these reactions. Coverage is restricted to the addition of carbonyl and thiocarbonyl compounds to simple alkenes. Addition of carbonyl compounds to vinylsilanes, allylsilanes and enol ethers is covered in the following chapters. Addition of imines and iminium compounds to alkenes is presented in Part 4 of this volume. Ene reactions with alkenes and alkynes as enophiles are covered in Volume 5, Chapter 1.1. Use of aldehydes and acetals as initiators for polyene cyclizations is covered in Volume 3, Chapter 1.6. 

The synthesis of ( )-yohimbone by Grieco and Fobare illustrates the use of an allylsilane to terminate an iminium ion initiated polyene cyclization. The o/E-ring system of the target alkaloid was assembled by treating diene amines (114) with formaldehyde and CF3CO2H in aqueous THF to give (115) in good yield. Only the rrans-hydroisoquinoline stereoisomer was produced (Scheme 42). 

A spectacular example of cationic cyclization is the Johnson polyene cyclization, described in Section 10.8.A. Polyenes such as squalene are expected to assume a steroid-like conformation in the lowest energy form (sec. 1.5.E), based on the biogenetic preparation of cholesterol from squalene. In practice, treatment of polyenes with acid led to a very low yield of tri- or tetracyclic products, giving instead significant amounts of polymeric material. Diligent work over many years prevailed, however, and Johnson solved the many problems (as described in sec. 10.8.A) to make this reaction an excellent and efficient synthetic route to di-, tri-, and tetracyclic molecules. One of the later examples of polyene cyclization uses an allyl silane to quench the cyclization process. A Lewis acid was used to initiate the reaction via reaction with the acetal. Treatment of... 

It has sometimes been asked why the actual initiator of this synthetic strategy, of using cation-initiated polyene cyclizations for determination of... 

A reaction called the Johnson polyene cyclization (based on the Stork-Eschenmoser hypothesis) converts triene A into the polycyclic molecule B. When first discovered, an initially formed carbocation at one end of the polyene reacted with a nearby alkene to form a ring containing a new cation. This reacted with another nearby alkene, etc. The reaction was plagued by low yields and formation of polymeric material and decomposition products. This transformation required many years to perfect and two improvements were the use of a cyclopentenol unit on the left to initiate the sequence, which became a cyclopentene unit, and an alkyne unit on the right to end the sequence by generating a methyl ketone. Briefly discuss why these two improvements helped the problems inherent to this reaction. 

In contrast to (Lewis) acid-catalysed annulations of /3-keto-esters such as (222), which lead to decalins cf. refs. 175,176), mercuric ion-induced cyclization of (222) leads instead to the pyran (223). Further examples of the ability of a carbon-tin bond to provide a specific nucleophilic site in TiCU-catalysed cyclizations of allylic alcohols have been reported, together with a full account of the use of an imino group to initiate polyene cyclizations annulations of imines that carry a chiral substituent result in moderate chiral inductions. 

In some equally elegant investigations of polyene cyclization, Sutherland and his co-workers have demonstrated that enol trifluoroacetates of 2-cyclo-hexenones, as initiators of the cyclizations, offer several advantages over the use of the related 2,3-epoxycyclohexanones [e.g. (141) (142) (81%)]. 

In related studies designed to ascertain the elfect of a chiral centre remote from the initiating cationic centre on the stereochemical course of the polyene cyclization, Johnson has made the interesting observation that cyclization of (156), containing a pro-C- chiral centre, leads to only the 1 la-substituted diastereoisomer (157) of the tetracyclic product. Similarly, cyclization of the optically active acetal (158) with SnCU gave the axial and equatorial hydroxy-ethers (159) and (160), respectively, both with ca. 92% enantiomeric purity. ... 

In 2013, Braddock s group reported that enantiospedfic polyene cyclization was initialed by the formation of an enantiopure bromiranium ion (Scheme 9.10) [18]. Enantiopure bromohydrin esters were synthesized from the corresponding olefins in a three-step sequential reaction. The reaction gave... 

In 2010, Toste s group reported the first example of a highly enantioselective polyene cyclization reaction in which transition metal-promoted alkyne activation serves as the cyclization initiating event [34], The (MeO-DTBM-BIPHEP)gold(I)-catalyzed reaction offers an efficient method for the stereoselective synthesis of polycyclic compounds... 

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