Prostaglandin 1,4-addition

The enzyme system responsible for the biosynthesis of PGs is widely distributed in mammalian tissues and has been extensively studied (2). It is referred to as prostaglandin H synthase (PGHS) and exhibits both cyclooxygenase and peroxidase activity. In addition to the classical PGs two other prostanoid products, thromboxane [57576-52-0] (TxA ) (3) and prostacyclin [35121 -78-9] (PGI2) (4) are also derived from the action of the enzyme system on arachidonic acid (Fig. 1). 

In addition to being involved in the formation of urine, the kidney acts as an endocrine organ secreting renin, erythropoietin, prostaglandins (qv), and kinins it is also capable of synthesizing substances such as la,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [32222-06-3] One of the principal functions of the... 

Mammals can add additional double bonds to unsaturated fatty acids in their diets. Their ability to make arachidonic acid from linoleic acid is one example (Figure 25.15). This fatty acid is the precursor for prostaglandins and other biologically active derivatives such as leukotrienes. Synthesis involves formation of a linoleoyl ester of CoA from dietary linoleic acid, followed by introduction of a double bond at the 6-position. The triply unsaturated product is then elongated (by malonyl-CoA with a decarboxylation step) to yield a 20-carbon fatty acid with double bonds at the 8-, 11-, and 14-positions. A second desaturation reaction at the 5-position followed by an acyl-CoA synthetase reaction (Chapter 24) liberates the product, a 20-carbon fatty acid with double bonds at the 5-, 8-, IT, and ITpositions. 

Very recently, a catalytic enantioselective route to prostaglandin ) metliyl e developed based on a tandem 1,4-addition-aldoI reaction [S4]. 

In addition to its other properties, interest in the potential use of the vasodilative properties of prostaglandin El, alprostadil ( ), has led to several conceptually different syntheses.For this purpose, the classic Corey process has to be modified by reversing the order of addition of the side chains to allow for convenient removal of the unwanted double bond in the upper side chain. For example, Corey lactone is protected with dihydropyran (acid catalysis), reduced to the lactol with diisobutyaluminum hydride, and then subjected to the usual Wittig reaction to give intermediate This is... 

Following the initial abstraction of a hydrogen atom, the carbon radical then reacts with 02 to give an oxygen radical, which reacts with aC C bond within the same molecule in an addition reaction. Several further transformations ultimately yield prostaglandin H2. 

In biological reactions, the situation is different from that in the laboratory. Only one substrate molecule at a time is present in the active site of the enzyme where reaction takes place, and that molecule is held in a precise position, with coenzymes and other necessary reacting groups nearby. As a result, biological radical reactions are both more controlled and more common than laboratory or industrial radical reactions. A particularly impressive example occurs in the biosynthesis of prostaglandins from arachiclonic acid, where a sequence of four radical additions take place. The reaction mechanism was discussed briefly in Section 5.3. 

Figure 7.9 Pathway for the biosynthesis of prostaglandins from arachidonic acid. Steps 2 and 5 are radical addition reactions to 02 steps 3 and 4 are radical additions to carbon-carbon double bonds.

Without question, the most significant advance in the use of sulfur-centered nucleophiles was made by Shibasaki, who discovered that 10 mol% of a novel gallium-lithium-bis(binaphthoxide) complex 5 could catalyze the addition of tert-butylthiol to various cyclic and acyclic meso-epoxides with excellent enantioselectiv-ities and in good yields (Scheme 7.11) [21], This work builds on Shibasaki s broader studies of heterobimetallic complexes, in which dual activation of both the electrophile and the nucleophile is invoked [22]. This method has been applied to an efficient asymmetric synthesis of the prostaglandin core through an oxidation/ elimination sequence (Scheme 7.12). 

Alkenylcuprates bearing a stereogenic center at the y-position were prepared and used for the synthesis of prostaglandin derivatives. Thus, the conjugate addition of 1 to chiral 2 followed by protonation gave 3 with very high diastereoselectivity623,81. 

In a study concerned with the synthesis of prostaglandins, it was reported that the anion of 3-phenylsulfinyl-l-octene underwent addition to 2-cyclopentenone to give a y-1,4-adduct (57%), which appeared to be a single diastereomer by 13C NMR16... 

The diastereoselective addition of [(S)-3-alkoxy-l-octenyl]lithium to an enantiomerically pure cyclic y-(rer/-butyldimethylsilyloxy)-o(,/S-unsaturated sulfone was employed in the synthesis of ( )-prostaglandin E219, with addition occurring exclusively anti to the sterically demand-... 

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