Protecting stereoselectivity

Once again, ( )-carvone was chosen as starting material (Scheme 48) (727). Aldol reaction with formaldehyde led to 6-hydroxymethylcarvone. The primary alcohol was protected as silylether 415 to permit addition of (cyanomethyl)lithium. The 5 1 mixture of epimeric tertiary alcohols was separated and the main product, 416, the alcohol generated by axial attack, was protected stereoselectively as bromoether 417 utilizing pyridinium hydrobromide perbromide. To introduce the necessary alkyne, the nitrile was reduced to the aldehyde with diisobutylaluminum hydride and subsequent hydrolysis. Addition of the alkyne led to a 2 1 mixture of... 

The antagonism or prevention of toxic effects may also benefit from stereochemical principles. Thus, optically active flavanones have been shown to inhibit the metabolic activation of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene to metabolites that bind covalently to DNA (Chae et al., 1992). Moreover, the (+) enantiomers of 3-0-methyicatechin and catechin have been demonstrated to protect stereoselectively against lipid peroxidation due to paracetamol (Devalia et al., 1982),... 

A conceptually surprising and new route to prostaglandins was found and evaluated by C.R. Johnson in 1988. It involves the simple idea to add alkenylcopper reagents stereo-selectively to a protected chiral 4,5-dihydroxy-2-cyclopenten-l-one and to complete the synthesis of the trisubstituted cyclopentanone by stereoselective allylation of the resulting enolate. 

Total syntheses have been reported by E.J. Corey (1978B, 1979). We outline only the stereoselective synthesis of a protected fragment (A) which contains carbon atoms 1—9. This fragment was combined with fragment (B) by a Grignard reaction and cyclized by one of the methods typical for macrolide formation (see p. 146). 

Since this original synthesis, a great number of improvements (191—201) have been made in the stereoselective preparation and derivatization of the CO-chain precursor, in cuprate reagent composition and preparation, in protecting group utilization, and in the preparation and resolution of hydroxycyclopentenones. Illustration of some of the many improvements are seen in a synthesis (202) of enisoprost, a PGE analogue. The improvements consist of a much more efficient route to the enone as well as modifications in the cuprate reactions. Preparation of the racemic enone is as follows ... 

As described in Section 2.3.2, vinylaziridines are versatile intermediates for the stereoselective synthesis of (E)-alkene dipeptide isosteres. One of the simplest methods for the synthesis of alkene isosteres such as 242 and 243 via aziridine derivatives of type 240 and 241 (Scheme 2.59) involves the use of chiral anti- and syn-amino alcohols 238 and 239, synthesizable in turn from various chiral amino aldehydes 237. However, when a chiral N-protected amino aldehyde derived from a natural ot-amino acid is treated with an organometallic reagent such as vinylmag-nesium bromide, a mixture of anti- and syn-amino alcohols 238 and 239 is always obtained. Highly stereoselective syntheses of either anti- or syn-amino alcohols 238 or 239, and hence 2,3-trans- or 2,3-as-3-alkyl-2-vinylaziridines 240 or 241, from readily available amino aldehydes 237 had thus hitherto been difficult. Ibuka and coworkers overcame this difficulty by developing an extremely useful epimerization of vinylaziridines. Palladium(0)-catalyzed reactions of 2,3-trons-2-vinylaziri-dines 240 afforded the thermodynamically more stable 2,3-cis isomers 241 predominantly over 240 (241 240 >94 6) through 7i-allylpalladium intermediates, in accordance with ab initio calculations [29]. This epimerization allowed a highly stereoselective synthesis of (E) -alkene dipeptide isosteres 243 with the desired L,L-... 

With Sulfur Nucleophiles N-Carboxy-protected aziridine-2-carboxylates react with thiols to give P-mercapto-ot-amino acid derivatives. The reaction is usually catalyzed by BF3 and the yields range from fair to excellent [15, 16, 108-111]. With N-unprotected 3-substituted aziridine-2-carboxylates, the ring-opening with thiols usually takes place with anti stereoselectivity, especially in the case of the C-3 aliphatic substituted substrates. In cases in which C-3 is aromatic, however, the stereoselectivity has been found to be a function of the substitution pattern on the aromatic ring 3-p-methoxy ph eri yl-su bs li In led aziridines 143a (Scheme 3.51) and... 

On the other hand, addition of methylmagnesium bromide, as well as (triisopropoxy)methyl-titanium, to the O-benzyl-protected analog 4 proceeds with the facial stereoselection predicted by Cram s open-chain model, although the selectivities are very low72. 

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