Pyrimidines, olefinic derivatives, synthesis

Michael/Henry/dehydration/aromatisation reaction of 2-(2-oxoethyl) benzal-dehydes and nitroalkenes mediated by pyrrolidine to obtain polysubstituted naphthalene derivatives. DBU catalysed the conjugate additions of alcohols to ot,p-unsaturated nitriles, esters and ketones. Perhaps more important are the aza-Michael addition reactions of amines to a,p-unsaturated ketones, nitriles and esters. Recently, Costa, Vilarrasa and coworkers described the addition of lactams, imides, 2-pyridone, pyrimidine-2,4-diones and inosines to methyl propiolate and other similar compounds, DABCO and DMAP being the best catalysts. As mentioned before, tertiary amines give zwitterionic species with activated allynes. It was as early as 1932 when Diels and Alder used the reaction of pyridine with dimethyl acetylenedicarbojylate (DMAD) for the synthesis of heterocycles. The interception of the corresponding intermediate with Al-tosylimines and activated olefins provided access to l-azadienes ° and highly substituted butadienes (Scheme 2.6). When the quenching species of the zwitterionic intermediate is a 1,2-diketone, dibenzoyl maleates or cyclopentenedione derivatives could be obtained (Scheme 2.6). The interception of the zwitterionic species of N-methyl imidazole (NMI) and DMAD with ketenes to obtain unsaturated esters has also been shown. ... 

The first asymmetric synthesis of (20 S)-camptothecin using catalytic asymmetric induction was achieved by Fang et al. in 1994 [74], They carried out a catalytic enantioselective synthesis of Comins s intermediate (23) in order to avoid the use of the expensive chiral auxiliary, 8-phenylmenthol, or similar compound. Intramolecular Heck reaction of pyridine derivative (26) gave the cyclic olefins (27) and (28) in a ratio 1 8. The allylic ether (27) can be isomerized to (28) upon treatment with Wilkinson s catalyst [75], Asymmetric Sharpless dihydroxylation of (28) proceeded successfully when 2,5-diphenyl-4,6-bis(9-0-dihydroquinidyl)pyrimidine [(DHQD)2-PYR] was used as the chiral catalyst [76], and subsequent oxidation gave (29) in 94% ee. Treatment of (29) with acid gave the target molecule (23, Scheme 2.5), which was converted to (20S)-camptothecin in 2 steps using the Comins s procedure [73]. 

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