Ring-forming transforms

Four ring forming transforms have been considered at length by the LHASA development group - the Diels Alder addition, the Robinson Annelation, the Simmons-Smith reaction, and iodo-lactonization. The first three of these have been fully implemented in LHASA and the fourth is completely flow charted and awaits only coding into the chemistry data base language. 

ACS Symposium Series American Chemical Society Washington, DC, 1977. 

All ring chemistry tables are organized into what is called binary search trees. Queries are posed about the existence of certain structural features. Each of these questions is answerable with a yes or a no. Based on the answer one of two different followup questions is selected. Embedded within the table may be requests for subgoals, either those already in the PGI or PGA table or for special reactions which are needed only for these transforms and are not of general synthetic interest. 

The example below shows some of the synthetic routes generated by the Diels Alder transform for the indicated precursor. It is important to note that while some of the chemistry may look somewhat naive, it can be quite thought provoking. 

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A variety of methods for the asymmetric syntheses of aziridine-2-carboxylates have been developed. They can be generally classified into eight categories based on the key ring-forming transformation and starting materials employed (i) cyclization of hydroxy amino esters, (ii) cyclization of hydroxy azido esters, (iii) cyclization of a-halo- and ot-sulfonyloxy-(3-amino esters, (iv) aziridination of ot, 3-unsaturated esters, (v) aziridination of imines, (vi) aziridination of aldehydes, (vii) 2-carboxylation of aziridines, and (viii) resolution of racemic aziridine-2-carboxylates. 

In the same work," an intramolecular Houben-Hoesch was efficiently carried out to produce 16. Notable in this instance is the improved yield of this ring-forming transformation. 

The relevant mechanistic details and application in natural product synthesis will be included where appropriate. For ambiguous examples, which can be placed into more than one category, we have attempted to present them in the section that typifies the key ring-forming transformation or place the examples with closely related processes. 

In addition to ring-forming reactions, the transformation of preformed heterocycles serves as an efficient alternative route for the synthesis of... 

Carbon-centered radicals generated by Barton s thiohydroxamate method can also participate in ring-forming reactions (see Scheme 26).52b,s3 For example, irradiation of 129 results in the formation of compound 130 (82% yield). The outcome of this transformation is reminiscent of Stork s elegant radical cyclization/trapping processes (see Schemes 7 and 8), in that/botn alkene carbon atoms have become functionalized. / I... 

Bifunctional monomers capable of forming six- or seven-membered rings condense variably, depending upon the particular monomer. The products normally obtained in the absence of diluent in various representative bifunctional condensations are listed in Table IX for unit lengths of six and seven members. The term interconvertibility refers to the reversible transformation between the ring and the linear polymer. Several of the six-membered units (Table IX) prefer the ring form exclusively, but most of them yield both products, or at any rate the ring and chain products are readily interconvertible. Seven-membered units either yield linear polymers exclusively, or, if the cyclic monomer is formed under ordinary conditions, it is convertible to the linear polymer. 

Addition of alkyllithium to cyclobutanones and transmetallation with VO(OEt)Cl2 is considered to give a similar alkoxide intermediates, which are converted to either the y-chloroketones 239 or the olefinic ketone 240 depending on the substituent of cyclobutanones. Deprotonation of the cationic species, formed by further oxidation of the radical intermediate, leads to 240. The oxovanadium compound also induces tandem nucleophilic addition of silyl enol ethers and oxidative ring-opening transformation to produce 6-chloro-l,3-diketones and 2-tetrahydrofurylidene ketones. (Scheme 95)... 

Catalytic olefin metathesis, in only a few years, has risen to be one of the most important and reliable processes in organic synthesis. Recently, several reports by Schrock and Hoveydallsbbond forming transformations efficiently and enan-tioselectively. A recent concise and enantioselective synthesis of exo-brevicomin by Burke utilizes chiral catalyst 91 (Scheme 13) to effect the desymmetriza-tion of 90 through a ring-closing metathesis.11531... 

Figure 5. Transformation of a molecule with cycle into a spanning tree and labelling of the ring forming functionalities. (Reproduced with permission from Ref. 42. Copyright 1987 CRC Press).

Pyrroles and fiirans were prepared by the intramolecular carbon-carbon bond formation between pendant acetylene and nitrile or carbonyl functions. The process, running in acetic acid, starts by the fraw-acetoxypalladation of the acetylene moiety, which initiates a series of further transformations. The nature of the ring formed is determined by heteroatom bridging the two reactive units. The propargylamine derivative in 3.88., for example gave a pyrrole ring.112... 

Doyle et al.344 and Wee and Liu345 have reported the ring-closing transformation of a-diazoacetamides 108 and 109 to yield 2(3//)-indolinones over Nafion-H [Eq. (5.136)]. In the transformation of compounds 109 the electrophilic intramolecular substitution is followed by decarboxylation.345 Small amounts of 2-azetidinone derivatives (4—10%) formed through a carbene intermediate were also detected. The yield of products from compounds 108 are even higher than observed in the presence of Rh(OAc)2 often applied in the decomposition of diazo compounds.344... 

More interestingly, a reversible photo-induced transformation of the cyclic voltam-mograms between the open-ring form and closed-ring form of the TPF was observed. This property could be used as the detecting signal for application in electrochemical switches. 

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