Spiro-oxindole

In another early application to natural product synthesis, Fleming and coworkers utilized this approach in the efficient formation of the gelsemine model (47) from 45 according to Scheme 8. The cyclization step to form the spiro-oxindole (46) proceeded in 85% yield and provided a means of generating the spiro-fused quaternary carbon without the need for carbenium ion or carbanion chemistry. 

The final, critical oxidative spirocyclization of the 2,3-disubstituted indole to the spiro oxindole was effected by treatment of 124 with tert-butyl hypochlorite in pyridine to provide the labile 125 [Fig. (34)]. The Pinacol-type rearrangement was conducted by treating compound 125 with p-toluenesulfonic acid in THF/water. It is assumed that the chlorination of 124 proceeds from the least hindered face of the indole, to give the a-chloroindolene 125. The hydration of the imine functionality must also occur from the same a-face that is syn to the relatively large chlorine atom furnishing the syn-chlorohydrin 126, that subsequently rearranges stereospecifically to the desired spiro oxindole 127. 

Both experimental and theoretical studies have been reported of fluoro-denitration and fluoro-dechlorination reactions using anhydrous tetrabutylammonium fluoride in DMSO. The absences of ion pairing and strong solvation are critical in contributing to the reactivity of the fluorinating agent24 Quaternary ammonium salts derived from cinchona alkaloids have been shown to be effective catalysts in an improved asymmetric substitution reaction of /1-dicarbonyl compounds with activated fluoroarenes. The products may be functionalized to yield spiro-oxindoles.25... 

Beckwith and Storey have developed a tandem translocation and homolytic aromatic substitution sequence en route to spiro-oxindoles [95CC977]. Treatment of the bromoaniline derivative 122 with tin hydride at 160 °C generated the aryl radical 123 which underwent a 1,5-hydrogen atom transfer to give intermediate 124. Intramolecular homolytic aromatic substitution and aromatization gave the spiro-oxindole 125. Intramolecular aryl radical cyclization on to a pyrrole nucleus has been used to prepare spirocyclic heterocycles [95TL6743]. 

Scheme 22 Preparation of spiro oxindoles in a domino reaction [82]...

By converting the enol triflate 41 to the spiro-tricyclic dienone 42, Overman and co-workers had already shown in 1989 that the direct enantio-selective formation of quaternary chiral carbon centers ean be carried out through an intramolecular Heck reaction. While the enantioselectiv-ities were only moderate at the beginning [ 16], the same authors later succeeded in achieving the Pd(0)-BINAP-catalyzed cyclizalion of substrates of type 43 to spiro-oxindoles 44 with up to 95 % ee (Scheme 12) [17]. 

Enantiomerically pure spiro oxindoles (Scheme 35) were prepared by using solid-supported N-cinnamoyl Evans oxazolidinone (164) [265]. Thus, chiral oxazolidi-none prepared from L-tyrosine was attached to a Merrifield resin and then N-acylated with the required unsaturated acyl chloride such as cinnamoyl chloride (not shown). The resin (165) was then suspended in aqueous dioxane and treated with proline and N-phenyl isatin at 80-90 °C overnight to give a highly substituted spiro compound (167). 

A radical cyclization approach to spiro-oxindoles was revealed <05OL151>. Treatment of p-trityloxybenzamide 125 with triethylborane and tris(trimethylsilyl)silane gave cyclohexadienone 126 via an ipso cyclization. The nucleophilic aromatic substitution of aryl fluorides was utilized in an asymmetric approach to spiro-pyrrolidone oxindoles <05JA3670>. 

FEPOPS searches were conducted for the Roche Nutlin-3 and University of Michigan spiro-oxindole reference compounds. After scoring the corporate database, the 1,000 top scoring compounds were retrieved as in silico hits. 

Homology model based on SPIRO-OXINDOLE and NUTLIN MDM2 structures Constrained SP Glide docking Selection of top 20000 Compounds... 

Ding K et al (2006) Structure-based design of spiro-oxindoles as potent, specific small-molecule inhibitors of the MDM2-p53 interaction. J Med Chem 49(12) 3432-3435... 

The key step remaining involved the conversion of the ketone functionality in 260 to a spiro-oxindole. The conversion of a sterically hindered ketone to an oxindole by applying most of the conventional methods for the creation of a quaternary center at the spiro position was not an easy process. A process involving C—C bond formation by combination of two radical centers generated by photolysis of the alkoxy-substituted-1-alkenylbenzotriazole was then investigated (Scheme 35). By applying Wender s procedure (102), the benzotriazole derivative 261 was converted to 262 by metallation-silylation, and then the trimethylsilyl derivative was... 

Cyclization of 290 under standard Heck arylation conditions [Pd(OAc)2, PPha, EtaN, acetonitrile, reflux] gave a single spiro-oxindole product possessing the opposite spiro stereochemistry to that of natural gelsemine... 

The total synthesis of d/-21-oxo-gelsemine reported by Hart and collaborators (107) features two free radical cyclizations (C-5-C-16 bond formation in gelsemine) to construct both a tricyclic substructure 314 in the terpene part of gelsemine and the spiro-oxindole moiety. The synthesis was initiated with the Diels-Alder reaction between A-methylmaleimide and the diene 302, followed by treatment of the crude cycloadduct with 2,2-dimethyl-l,3-propanediol and a catalytic amount of p-toluenesulfonic acid, to give the perhydro-isoindole 304 in 43% yield. By application of the Grieco dehydra-... 

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