Pyrrolizidines, example

If a molecule contains several asymmetric C atoms, then the diastereomers show diastereotopic shifts. Clionasterol (28a) and sitosterol (28b) for example, are two steroids that differ only in the absolute configuration at one carbon atom, C-24 Differing shifts of C nuclei close to this asymmetric C atom in 28a and b identify the two diastereomers including the absolute configuration of C-24 in both. The absolute configurations of carboxylic acids in pyrrolizidine ester alkaloids are also reflected in diastereotopic H and C shifts which is used in solving problem 54. 

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. 

A review article is an intensive survey of a rather narrow field for example, the titles of some recent reviews are Desulfonation Reactions Recent Developments , Pyrrolizidine and Indolizidine Syntheses Involving 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddtion , and From Corrin Chemistry to Asymmetry Catalysis—A Personal Account. A good review article is of enormous value, because it is a thorough survey of all the work done in the field under discussion. Review articles are printed in review journals and in certain books. The most important review journals in organic chemistry (though most are not exclusively devoted to organic chemistry) are shown in Table A.3. Some of the journals listed in Table A.l, for example, the Bull Soc. Chim. Fr. and J. Organomet. Chem. also publish occasional review articles. 

From the hair-pencils of butterflies in Danainae and Ithomiinae (Papilion-oidea Nymphalidae), a wider variety of pyrrolizines (la-d, and 6a-d) have been identified than from Arctiidae moths. These compounds are biosynthesized from pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are included in host plants fed by the larvae and protect them from the attacks of other herbivores [122]. In addition to novel lactones (7, 8a, and 8b) derived from an acid part of the alkaloids, many volatiles of more than 100 compounds (aromatics, terpenoids, hydrocarbons, and others) constitute scent bouquets of the male butterflies [123]. For example, the hair-pencil of Idea leuconoe (Danainae) which is distributed in South-East Asia contained 16 compounds (6b, 8a, 8b, 9, and others), and a mixture of the major volatiles applied to a butterfly dummy elicited an abdomen-curling acceptance posture in the females as a crude extract of the male hair-pencils did [ 124]. A chiral GC analysis revealed the absolute config-... 

An exchange quantity, S(,(tert/sec, sec, sec), not previously calculated, is found to be ca —59 kJmol-1 from this example. By comparison with other exchange quantities in Table 2 this value seems inaccurate26. However, we note that the cis/trans enthalpy difference of pyrrolizidine (ca 14 kJ mol-1 from Reference 25) is significantly less than the ca 26 kJmol-1 we deduce for bicyclooctane. This should not surprise us because trivalent nitrogen has been known to accommodate strain by partial or total planarization27. 

The dipolar cycloaddition of nitronates has been applied to the synthesis of several natural products in the context of the tandem [4+2] / [3 + 2] nitroalkene cycloaddition process. All of these syntheses have focused on the construction of pyrrolidine, pyrrolizidine, and indolizidine alkaloids. For example, the synthesis of ( )-hastanecine (316), a necine alkaloid, involves the elaboration of a p-benzoy-loxynitroalkene 311 via [4 + 2] cycloaddition with a chiral vinyl ether (312) in the presence of a titanium based Lewis acid, to provide the nitronate 313 with high diastereo- and facial selectivity (Scheme 2.30) (69). The dipolar cycloaddition of... 

Intramolecular alkylation of the amino group has been applied more recently to the synthesis of functionally substituted pyrrolizidine derivatives. For example, Seiwerth and Djokic20 reported the synthesis of 3-substitutedpyrrolizidines. y-Tetrahydrofurylbutyric acid, via... 

The stereochemistry of the other pyrrolizidine alcohols and related compounds was determined on the basis of comparison of their configurations with those of the above basic compounds.2,45,81 For example, platynecine can be converted into (— )-isoretronecanol (134) under conditions which cannot affect the configuration at C-l, and 134 can then be transformed into (— )-heliotridane (135). On the basis of these data, the compounds can be named, respectively, as 1 -endo-hydroxymethylpyrrolizidine and 1 -ewdo-methylpyrrolizidine, and their diastereoisomers (- )-trachelanthamidine (136) and (— )-pseudoheliotridane (137) as I -exo-hydroxymethylpyrrolizidine and 1 -eso-methylpyrrolizidine. 

Pyrrolizidine bases readily form A-oxides. Many pyrrolizidine alkaloids occur in plants in the form both of the bases and the A-oxides transformation of the tertiary amine into the A-oxide is closely related to the vegetation period.97-99 The oxidation, as well as the reverse reaction, can be readily accomplished by chemical methods. For example, the alkaloid trachelanthamine, when treated with hydrogen peroxide, affords the alkaloid trachelanthine (trachelanthamine A-oxide), the latter reverting to trachelanthamine when reduced with sulfur dioxide.100... 

Konovalova and Orekhov103 demonstrated that the primary hydroxyl group in platynecine is more reactive to acylation than the secondary. For example, use of more or less drastic conditions yields platynecine di- or mono-benzoate, respectively. Pyrrolizidine alcohols can be esterified with inorganic acids e.g., mild treatment of platynecine with thionyl chloride yields the cyclic sulfite ester hydrochloride79 (see Section III, A). 

Pyrrolizidine amino-alcohols are readily dehydrated for example, hydroxyheliotridane and retronecanol, when treated with sulfuric acid, afford heliotridene (see e.g., refs. 105 to 107). A more complicated dehydration reaction is the transformation of the alkaloid rosmarinine into the alkaloid senecionine.83 Dehydration of 1-hydroxy-l-carbethoxypyrrolizidine53 in the presence of phosphorus oxychloride in pyridine results mainly in the formation of the A1,8-unsaturated ester (see Section II, E). The authors61,62 claimed that the dehydration product of l-carbethoxy-2-hydroxy-3-oxopyrrolizidine contained a A1,2-double bond (159). Later, however, the UV, IR, and NMR spectra67 revealed that the double bond had migrated the... 

Insects have evolved mechanisms to tolerate plant toxins. Such mechanisms enable them to use a plant as a food source that is avoided by other herbivores, and provides the herbivore with its own ecological niche.9 For example, insects may prevent accumulation of detrimental alkaloids in the hemolymph by efficient excretion. Larvae of Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) feed freely on plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are rapidly excreted and only transiently detectable in the hemolymph. Even pyrrolizidine alkaloids directly injected into the hemolymph are efficiently excreted.48 The same has been observed... 

Insects that recruit plant defense for their own protection are promising candidates for understanding the specific mechanisms that insects have evolved to cope with alkaloid-mediated plant defense. Several fascinating examples of alkaloid-recruitment have been described for the pyrrolizidine alkaloid system, some of which are given below. Most likely this is due to the unique feature of these alkaloids to exist in two interchangeable forms, as Y-oxide or as free base (tertiary alkaloid form). 

---