Ring contraction, natural product

A classic diagnostic use of such stereochemical requirements, due to Ruzicka, is the ring contraction induced in natural products containing the 4,4-dimethyl-5a-3 -ol system (94). The epimeric, axial 3a-alcohols (95) dehydrate without ring contraction. Barton suggested that it is necessary for the four reacting centers (hydroxyl, C-3, C-4, C-5) to be coplanar for ring contraction to occur, and this is only the case with the 3)5-alcohol. 

Gould and coworkers have extensively studied the biosyntheses of the kinamycins, and this work was recently reviewed [5a]. Feeding studies established that the carbo-cyclic skeletons of the kinamycins are constructed from 10 equivalents of 5-acetyl coenzyme A, and the pathway shown in Scheme 3.4 was proposed. The pathway begins with formation of the natural product dehydrorabelomycin (29). A novel ring contraction then occurs to form the cyclopentadienone 30. Feeding studies with /V-15-ammonium sulfate established that the diazo functional group is then installed... 

It should be noted, however, that the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition chemistry of diazo compounds has been used much less frequently for the synthesis of natural products than that of other 1,3-dipoles. On the other hand, several recent syntheses of complex molecules using diazo substrates have utilized asymmetric induction in the cycloaddition step coupled with some known diazo transformation, such as the photochemical ring contraction of A -pyrazolines into cyclopropanes. This latter process often occurs with high retention of stereochemistry. Another useful transformation involves the conversion of A -pyrazolines into 1,3-diamines by reductive ring-opening. These and other results show that the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition chemistry of diazo compounds can be extremely useful for stereoselective target-oriented syntheses and presumably we will see more applications of this type in the near future. 

The oxidation of AT-substituted 5//-dibenz[6,/] azepines with MCPBA is complex and depends upon the nature of the N-substituent. AT-Acyl derivatives do not form the N-oxide but suffer epoxidation of the 10,11-bond. AT-Aryl derivatives undergo hydroxylation of the phenyl ring, whereas N-alkyl congeners, with the exception of the AT-methyl compound, yield mixtures of diphenylamines and acridones. The N-oxide is obtained from the A/-methyl derivative along with ring-opened and ring-contracted products (81CPB1221). 

The investigations on the pyrido[2,3-6]pyrazine ring were inspired by the related pteridine ring, of importance in natural products. Pteridines are very reactive systems with both liquid ammonia and KNH2 in liquid ammonia, but in neither medium have anionic (j-adducts ever been detected. Such adducts presumably form initially and rapidly evolve toward covalent amination and ring contraction products.119,121... 

Numerous instances exist of the preparation of benzofurans (poly-substituted by more or less complex groups) of ring-opening or ring-contraction reactions of natural products. 

If a thiochromanone is the starting system for sulfilimine preparation, another mode of reaction becomes available, namely ring expansion or contraction with insertion of the sulfilimine nitrogen (Scheme 8) (80TL533). The nature of the product is defined by the relative propensity for Michael addition (ring expansion) or thiooxime formation (ring contraction) to occur. 

Another compound of interest is ring-contracted analogue 156 which was synthesized to examine the effect of increased ring strain on antimalarial activity. A more reactive peroxy group incorporated into an analogue topologically similar to the natural product (the minimized structure of 156 has a reasonable overlap with 1) might lead to enhanced activity. 

Cyclopropanone cleavage with elimination 72 can also lead to ring contraction as in the synthesis of the trans acid 74 from natural pulegone13 70. Bromination gives the unstable dibromide 71 that is immediately treated with ethoxide to initiate the Favorskii rearrangement. The product is a mixture of cis and trans isomers of the ester 73 but hydrolysis under vigorous conditions (reflux in aqueous ethanol) epimerises the ester centre and gives exclusively the trans acid 74. 

The benzodioxole ring system is distributed widely in nature and is found in numerous natural products such as safrole and piperonal, as well as a multitude of alkaloids. 1,2-Dioxolanes are intermediates in the arachidonic acid cascade, which is the biochemical pathway from essential fatty acids to prostaglandins and similar hormones. The endoperoxide PGH2 (121) is believed to be formed on initial oxidation of arachidonic acid (120). PGH2 has a half-life of 4-5 minutes and is transformed enzymatically into prostaglandins, prostacyclin and the thromboxanes. These compounds are mediators for the control of platelet aggregation, blood vessel dilation and smooth muscle contraction. 

Cyclic nitrones generated by [4+ 2]-cycloaddition of nitroalkenes undergo various, synthetically very valuable reactions. Thus, Denmark et al. have developed an elegant access to different enantiopure, 3- and 3,4-substituted pyrrolidine derivatives by reductive ring contraction of the cyclic nitrone resulting from a hetero Diels-Alder reaction [389,390]. Upon reaction of -2-nitrostyrene 4-51 with the chiral enol ether 4-52 in the presence of the bulky Lewis acid MAPh (4-53), three diastereomeric cycloadducts 4-54, 4-55 and 4-56 were formed. Hydrogenolysis of the main product 4-54 yielded the desired pyrrolidine 4-57 in excellent optical purity and allowed nearly quantitative recovery of the chiral auxiliary (Fig. 4-12) [391]. It is noteworthy that the nature of the Lewis acid catalyst, especially its steric demand, decisively influences the stereochemical course of such cycloadditions [392]. 

When structural elucidations of natural products of low molecular weight were done by chemical methods, unexpected transannular reactions occasionally made such work extremely difficult. Phenomena were observed, which could only be explained by reactions of functional groups in a ring with one another producing ring enlargement or ring contraction reactions, or, in some cases, by equilibria between open and closed systems. Such transannular reactions depend on the reaction conditions as well as the structures of the substrates. 

Epoxides may undergo rearrangement in the presence of protic or Lewis acids to give carbonyl compounds. However, the nature of the products may depend quite subtly on the reaction conditions. For example, 1-methylcyclohexene oxide has been reported to give the ring-contracted aldehyde as the major product with lithium bromide, but with lithium perchlorate, 2-methylcyclohexanone is the major product (Scheme 2.22a). In the presence of a strong base such as lithium diethylamide, an allylic alcohol may be formed from an epoxide (Scheme 2.22b). 

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