Ruthenium natural products, syntheses

Keywords Ruthenium-carbenes, Ruthenium-allenylidenes, Ring closing metathesis, Natural product synthesis, Fine chemicals. 

Olefin metathesis has become a very important reaction in polymer chemistry and natural product synthesis [47-49]. Garber et al. have used the physical properties of dendrimers in order to improve the separation between the dendritic metathesis catalyst and products on silica gel column chromatography [50]. The Van Koten group has reported on the synthesis of different generations of carbosilane dendrimers functionalized with ruthenium metathesis catalysts [51]. 

Ruthenium is not an effective catalyst in many catalytic reactions however, it is becoming one of the most novel and promising metals with respect to organic synthesis. The recent discovery of C-H bond activation reactions [38] and alkene metathesis reactions [54] catalyzed by ruthenium complexes has had a significant impact on organic chemistry as well as other chemically related fields, such as natural product synthesis, polymer science, and material sciences. Similarly, carbonylation reactions catalyzed by ruthenium complexes have also been extensively developed. Compared with other transition-metal-catalyzed carbonylation reactions, ruthenium complexes are known to catalyze a few carbonylation reactions, such as hydroformylation or the reductive carbonylation of nitro compounds. In the last 10 years, a number of new carbonylation reactions have been discovered, as described in this chapter. We ex-... 

Enyne metathesis reactions in the context of natural product synthesis have been reviewed recently by Mori <2007ASC121>. Using the same ruthenium catalyst, a novel tandem diyne cycloisomerization-CM process has been devised to furnish 3,4-divinyl-2,5-dihydrofurans (Equation 57) <1999CC237>. 

Metal enolates have played a Umited role in the metal-catalyzed isomerization of al-kenes . As illustrated in a comprehensive review by Bouwman and coworkers, ruthenium complex Ru(acac)3 (51) has been used to isomerize a wide range of substituted double bonds, including aUylic alcohols (131), to the corresponding ketones (132) (equation 38) . The isomerization of aUylic alcohols affords products that have useful applications in natural product synthesis and in bulk chemical processes. An elegant review by Fogg and dos Santos shows how these complexes can be used in tandem catalysis, where an alkene is subjected to an initial isomerization followed by a hydroformylation reaction ... 

The SjvAr reaction is another attractive method for diaryl ether synthesis, and reactions of o-nitro- and o-cyanofluorobenzenes with phenols were reported . 7r-Complexation of aryl halides with transition metals activates the aromatic nuclei toward S fAr. Segal employed a ruthenium chlorobenzene complex in the poly(aryl ether) synthesis , and the methodology was extensively studied by Pearson, Rich and their coworkers using manganese complex and later iron and ruthenium complexes in natural product synthesis " . The intramolecular substitution of an aromatic chloride with a phenylalanine derivative takes place at room temperature without racemization (equation 27). 

The first ruthenium porphyrin-catalyzed intramolecular carbenoid C - H insertion to afford selectively cis-2,3-disubstituted-2,3-dihydroergocornine using tosylhydrazone salts as the carbene source was reported by Zheng et al. [192]. This general strategy was applied in natural product synthesis to provide a route to the total synthesis of racemic epi-conocarpan. Enantio-selective synthesis of 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans was also achieved by a similar route using chiral ruthenium porphyrins as catalysts for this interesting carbon-carbon bond formation [193]. Recently, it was found that dinuclear fx-oxo osmium porphyrins are able to catalyze intermolecular carbene insertion into C - H bonds in cyclohexene [153]. 

Enyne metathesis/metallotropic [l,3]-shift domino processes are also valuable for natural product synthesis [33c,d]. Reaction of substrate 168 with cis-l,4-diacetoxy-2-butene in the presence of Grubbs catalyst 2 generated the intermediate ruthenium alkinyl carbene through a relay RCM with the hberation of 2,5-dihydrofuran followed by metallotropic [l,3]-shift and terminating (Z)-selective CM with the co-olefin to yield the conjugated enediyne 169 (Scheme 2.58) [33c]. The antitumor active Panax ginseng constituent (3R,9R,10R)-panaxytriol was readily synthesized from 169 in six steps. 

Olefin metathesis reaction that reorganizes carbon-carbon double bonds provides fundamentally new strategies for natural product synthesis and polymer chemistry. Hilvert and coworkers built up an artificial metalloenzyme by covalently tethering a Grubbs-Hoveyda-type Ru complex to a protein scaffold [78]. An /V-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand, which has been reported as a suitable ligand for a number of water-soluble ruthenium-based metathesis catalysts, was derivatized with an electrophilic bromoacetamide. The Ru carbene complex (27 in Figure 10.16) was then attached by site-selective alkylation of the cysteine... 

Among the vast number of chiral homogeneous catalysts, rhodium(I) and ruthenium(II) diphosphane complexes revealed to be the most efficient ones in asymmetric hydrogenation of functionalized olefins of practical importance. In certain cases described below (including also the BINAP-containing systems), enzyme-like enantioselectivities matching the requirements of natural product synthesis were reported. 

While application of the transition-metal-catalyzed [2 - - 2 - - 2] cycloaddition reaction and its variants for the construction of a benzene unit led to a plethora of natural products with different molecular structures and architectures, its use for the construction of a pyridine moiety within a natural product synthesis is less well developed. The reason for this is uncertain and should not account for the pyridine formation per se the co-cyclization of two alkynes with a nitrile unit to give a pyridine core can be catalyzed efficiently by cobalt, ruthenium, and cationic rhodium complexes, as shown in many methodology-oriented studies [35]. 

One of the most successful embodiments of this concept combined a metathetical step with the selective isomerisation of a terminal C=C double bond, and found applications in natural product synthesis. As discussed in Sections 7.3.2.2 and 7.3.2.3, it is indeed possible to convert the metathetically active benzylidene initiator 20 into hydrido complex 43, simply by adding trimethyl(vinyloxy)silane or methanol to the reaction mixture, thereby triggering a consecutive catalytic isomerisation process. Other methods for the decomposition of ruthenium metathesis catalysts for use in tandem with olefin isomerisation reactions include treatment with hydrogen, formic acid, sodium borohydride, or sodium hydroxide in isopropanol. ... 

We will focus on the development of ruthenium-based metathesis precatalysts with enhanced activity and applications to the metathesis of alkenes with nonstandard electronic properties. In the class of molybdenum complexes [7a,g,h] recent research was mainly directed to the development of homochi-ral precatalysts for enantioselective olefin metathesis. This aspect has recently been covered by Schrock and Hoveyda in a short review and will not be discussed here [8h]. In addition, several important special topics have recently been addressed by excellent reviews, e.g., the synthesis of medium-sized rings by RCM [8a], applications of olefin metathesis to carbohydrate chemistry [8b], cross metathesis [8c,d],enyne metathesis [8e,f], ring-rearrangement metathesis [8g], enantioselective metathesis [8h], and applications of metathesis in polymer chemistry (ADMET,ROMP) [8i,j]. Application of olefin metathesis to the total synthesis of complex natural products is covered in the contribution by Mulzer et al. in this volume. 

Negishi E, Tan Z (2005) Diastereoselective, Enantioselective, and Regioselective Carbo-alumination Reactions Catalyzed by Zirconocene Derivatives. 8 139-176 Netherton M, Fu GC (2005)Palladium-catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions of Unactivated Alkyl Electrophiles with Organometallic Compounds. 14 85-108 NicolaouKC, KingNP, He Y (1998) Ring-Closing Metathesis in the Synthesis of EpothUones and Polyether Natural Products. 1 73-104 Nishiyama H (2004) Cyclopropanation with Ruthenium Catalysts. 11 81-92 Noels A, Demonceau A, Delaude L (2004) Ruthenium Promoted Catalysed Radical Processes toward Fine Chemistry. 11 155-171... 

A formal synthesis of the antifungal agent alternaric acid was realized in the Trost group.95 The skipped diene portion of the natural product was obtained via a ruthenium-catalyzed intermolecular Alder-ene reaction (Scheme 36). Several attempts to produce 162 from the protected fragment 161 gave low yields and unremarkable regioselectivity. The diol (R = H), however, performed satisfactorily, allowing the reaction to be carried out at room temperature. The product 162 was obtained in 51% isolated yield as an 8.9 1 mixture of branched to linear isomers. 

The broad range of alkenes undergoing asymmetric hydrogenation using ruthenium-based systems as catalysts has attracted the attention of chemists engaged in the synthesis of chiral biologically active natural products (Scheme 13)[60] and other pharmaceuticals (Scheme 14)[61]. a, (3-Unsaturated phosphoric acids and esters have also proved to be suitable substrates for Ru(II)-catalysed asymmetric hydrogenation [62]. 

The ruthenium indenylidene IX catalyzed the ring dosing metathesis of a homoallyl ether diene to give a bicydic compound, which is an intermediate for the synthesis of different marine natural products (Equation 8.10) [63]. 

---