Pyrrolizidine synthesis

In the absence of a base, the aziridine ring can be quaternized and opened by the nucleophile. A pyrrolizidine synthesis, in which such a reaction proceeds intramolecularly followed by a Michael addition (159), is shown as follows ... 

The final pyrrolizidine synthesis we will consider is Vedejs approach to retronecine. This synthesis relies on a dipolar cycloaddition reaction for direct construction of the pyrrolizidine nucleus. The key reaction was to be a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between an azomethine ylid of type 57 and an acrylate of type 58. It was projected that this would provide 56 (or 57 after loss of methanol), which would then be converted to retronecine (21) via a sequence involving late-stage introduction of the C1-C2 double bond. 

Hudlicky and coworkers also reported a related 2-pyrroline formation from viny-laziridines [81], which are extremely useful for the synthesis of pyrrolizidine alkaloids such as the protected (+)-trihydroxyheliotridane 210 (Scheme 2.51). Since the pyrolysis of either diastereomer of 208 furnished the cyclized product 209 as a... 

With nonracemic chiral diazoacetates the insertion process occurs with evident match/mismatch characteristics. This has been demonstrated in reactions of optically pure 2-methylcyclohexyl diazoacetates (Eq. 9) [85] and in carbon-hydrogen insertion reactions of steroidal diazoacetates (Eq. 10) [86], as well as with the synthesis of pyrrolizidines 36 and 37 [84]. The mechanistic preference for formation of a /J-lactone in Eq. 10 over insertion into the 4-position is not clear,but there are other examples of /J-lactone formation [87]. In these and related examples, selectivities in match/mismatch examples are high, and future investigations are anticipated to show even greater applicability. 

The utility of lOOC reactions in the synthesis of fused rings containing a bridgehead N atom such as pyrrolizidines, indolizidines, and quinolizidines which occur widely in a number of alkaloids has been demonstrated [64]. Substrates 242 a-d, that possess properly positioned aldoxime and alkene functions, were prepared from proline or pipecolinic acid 240 (Eq. 27). Esterification of 240 and introduction of unsaturation on N by AT-alkylation produced 241 which was followed by conversion of the carbethoxy function to an aldoxime 242. lOOC reaction of 242 led to stereoselective formation of various tricyclic systems 243. This versatile method thus allows attachment of various unsaturated side chains that can serve for generation of functionalized five- or six-membered (possibly even larger) rings. 

As in the case of aminodialkenes (see above), hydroamination/bicyclizations of aminoalkenynes allow the regiospecific synthesis of pyrrolizidine skeletons (Eq. 4.87) [138, 303]. 

As discussed previously, radical ring-opening reactions of three-membered systems via cyclopropylmethyl and oxiranylmethyl radicals represent a fruitful method in organic synthesis [111]. De Kimpe and coworkers have now shown that azirid-ines can also be used, featuring a radical one-step synthesis of pyrrolizidines 3-280... 

Diels-Alder reactions are one of the most fundamental and useful reactions in synthetic organic chemistry. Various dienes and dienophiles have been employed for this useful reaction.1 Nitroalkenes take part in a host of Diels-Alder reactions in various ways, as outlined in Scheme 8.1. Various substituted nitroalkenes and dienes have been employed for this reaction without any substantial improvement in the original discovery of Alder and coworkers.2 Nitrodienes can also serve as 4ti-components for reverse electron demand in Diels-Alder reactions. Because the nitro group is converted into various functional groups, as discussed in Chapters 6 and 7, the Diels-Alder reaction of nitroalkenes has been frequently used in synthesis of complex natural products. Recently, Denmark and coworkers have developed [4+2] cycloaddition using nitroalkenes as heterodienes it provides an excellent method for the preparation of heterocyclic compounds, including pyrrolizidine alkaloids. This is discussed in Section 8.3. 

Dipolar addition to nitroalkenes provides a useful strategy for synthesis of various heterocycles. The [3+2] reaction of azomethine ylides and alkenes is one of the most useful methods for the preparation of pyrolines. Stereocontrolled synthesis of highly substituted proline esters via [3+2] cycloaddition between IV-methylated azomethine ylides and nitroalkenes has been reported.147 The stereochemistry of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides derived from aromatic aldehydes and L-proline alkyl esters with various nitroalkenes has been reported. Cyclic and acyclic nitroalkenes add to the anti form of the ylide in a highly regioselective manner to give pyrrolizidine derivatives.148... 

The strategy based on tandem cycloaddition leads to a short and efficient asymmetric synthesis of the pyrrolizidine necine base (-)-hastanecine, as shown in Scheme 8.32.163 Pyrrolizidine alkaloids have a long history for attracting the interest of synthetic chemists because of their physiological properties. The method of Denmark shown in this scheme is very simple and applied to synthesis of various alkaloids. The Lewis acid-promoted [4+2] cycloaddition between 2-acyloxy nitroalkene and chiral vinyl ether gives a nitronate that... 

The simplest nitroalkene, nitroethene, undergoes Lewis acid-promoted [4+2] cycloaddition with chiral vinyl ethers to give cyclic nitronates with high diastereoselectivity. The resulting cyclic nitronates react with deficient alkenes to effect a face-selective [3+2] cycloaddition. A remote acetal center controls the stereochemistry of [3+2] cycloaddition. This strategy is applied to synthesis of the pyrrolizidine alkaloids (+)-macronecine and (+)-petasinecine (Scheme 8.33).165... 

The synthesis of pyrrolizidine alkaloid (-)-rosmarinecine illustrates the power of the fused mode tandem cycloaddition, as shown in Scheme 8.40.180 The all-cA relationship at the three contiguous centers C(l), C(7), and C(7a) can be constructed in a single-pot reaction with correct stereochemistry but C(6) cannot. 

Nitroalkenes are shown to be effective Michael acceptor B units in three sequential reactions (A + B + C coupling) in one reaction vessel. The sequence is initiated by enolate nucleophiles (A) and is terminated by aldehydes or acrylate electrophiles (C). The utility of this protocol is for rapid assembly of complex structures from simple and readily available components. A short total synthesis of a pyrrolizidine alkaloid is presented in Scheme 10.16.114... 

The pyrrolizidines and indolizidines are a group of alkaloids that are characterized by the presence of the basic azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane and azabicyclo[4.3.0]nonane frameworks, respectively. These alkaloids exhibit remarkably diverse types of biological activity and have been reported to act as antitumor, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, carcinogenic, or hepatoxic agents. Various pyrrolizidines and indolizidines have been prepared by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition.115 Synthesis of these is described in the section 8.2 discussing cycloaddition. 

An interesting strategy for the synthesis of pyrrolizidines and indolizidines has been developed by Brandi and co-workers. Cycloaddition between nitrones or nitrile oxides with methylenecyclopropanes generates strained tricyclic spiro compounds, which are prone toward further transformations, such as rearrangement, ring opening, and new ring closure (Scheme 10.17).116... 

Another Michael addition route for synthesis of the pyrrolizidine alkaloide trachelan-thamidin is shown in Scheme 10.18.118... 

The aza-tricyclic lactone 320 is an intermediate in the synthesis of the indolizidine 321, which is the indolizine analogue of the pyrrolizidine alkaloid platynecine <1995TL5109> (Scheme 84). 

Dipolarophiles D14. The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrones to dimethyl maleate and dimethyl fumarate is widely used in the synthesis of polyhydroxy alkaloid derivatives of dihydroindolizidinone (81), pyrrolizidine (119), (—)-codonopsinine, and (+ )-hyacinthacines Ai and A2 (312). In cases of unstable nitrones, syntheses of cycloadducts are performed in situ (81). 

Cycloaddition reaction of nitrone (—)-(394) with dimethyl maleate D14 has been used for the synthesis of two new polyhydroxyl pyrrolizidines (687) and (688) (Schemes 2.293, 2.294). These compounds are analogs of alkaloids ros-marinecine and crotanecine, which were assayed for their inhibitory activities toward 22 commercially available glycosidase enzymes. One of them ((-)- a-epi-crotanecine) (—)-(688) is a potent and selective inhibitor of a-mannosidases (310). The reaction of (—)-(394) with dimethyl maleate gave a 9.6 6 1 mixture of cycloadducts (—)-(680), (+ )-(680), and (—)-(681), which arise from anti-exo,... 

An intermediate 5-hydroxy-5,6-dihydro-2/7-pyrrolo[l,2- ][l,2]oxazin-7(4a//)-one 142 has been described in the total synthesis of (—)-loline, a pyrrolizidine alkaloid extracted from rye grass Lolium cuneatum. The key step of the synthesis was an intramolecular cycloaddition of acylnitrosodienes (obtained by in situ oxidation of the corresponding hydroxamic acids 143). This reaction generated predominantly the rro/o-stereoisomer that was further cleaved at the N-O bond with Na(Hg) and further elaborated in several steps to reach the target compound (Scheme 19) <2001J(P 1)1831 >. 

Bicyclic alkaloids. Nagao et al. have developed a general synthesis of chiral bicyclic alkaloids with a nitrogen atom at the ring juncture, such as pyrrolizidines [5.5], quinolizidines [6.6], and indolizidines [6.5], based on a highly diastereose-lective alkylation of 3-a>-chloroacyl-(4S)-isopropyl-l,3-thiazolidine-2-thiones (1, m = 1,2) with 5-acetoxy-2-pyrrolidinone (2, n = 1) or 6-acetoxy-2-piperidinone (2, n = 2). Thus the tin enolate of 1 (m = 1), prepared with Sn(OTf) and N-... 

This method of cyclization has been used successfully for synthesis of four 11-membered dilactone pyrrolizidine alkaloids,2 but it does not appear to be useful for cyclization to simple macrolides. 

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