Stereoselectivity Buchner reaction

Four optically active cycloheptatriene derivatives carrying a methoxy group(s) at different positions were prepared by the pentane-2,4-diol-tethered Buchner reaction (g) (Scheme 13).24 In addition to the high stereoselectivity, the tether also controlled the regioselectivity. 

The thermal or photochemical Buchner reactions produce complex mixtures of cycloheptatrienyl esters, and the daunting complexity of the product mixtures was reduced or even eliminated with the advent of transition-metal catalysts, at first copper-based, then in the early 1980s rhodium(II) catalysts, which were developed by the Belgium group led by Noels and Hubert. The rhodium(II)-catalyzed cyclopropanations of aromatics, especially intramolecular cyclopropanations, have enjoyed a certain popularity due to their high regioselectivity and stereoselectivity. Since the intramolecular Buchner reaction is much more widely used in organic synthesis than the intermolecular version, the former is the focus of this review. 

Asymmetric Buchner reactions using chiral auxiliary have also been undertaken. The diazoketo substrate 126 for the chiral tethered Buchner reaction is prepared from optically pure (2/ ,4/f)-2,4-pentanediol in three steps the Mitsunobu reaction with 3,5-dimethylphenol, esterification with diketene, and diazo formation/deacetylation. Treatment of 126 with rhodium(II) acetate results in a quantitative yield of 127 with more than 99% ee. This compound is reduced with lithium aluminium hydride, and the resulting diol 128 undergoes epoxidation and concurrent acetal formation to give 129 as a single diastereomer. Hydrogenation of 129 with Raney nickel proceeds stereoselectively to yield saturated diol 130, which is converted to aldehyde 132 via acid hydrolysis followed by oxidation. Compound 132 is a versatile intermediate for natural product synthesis. 

Substrate-controlled stereoselective dearomatizations provide cycloheptatriene derivatives in high diastereomeric excess, and the reaction has been used to prepare 7-membered ring systems found in several natural products. Scheme 15.27a illustrates the Rh(II)-catalyzed conversion of diazo derivative 72 to polycyclic cycloheptatriene 73, which was subsequently converted to har-ringtonolide [78]. Note that the initial cycloheptatriene product of the Buchner reaction is converted to a more stable isomer by the action of DBU. In some instances, intramolecular Buchner reactions afford norcaradiene products that are not in equilibrium with the corresponding cycloheptatrienes. These examples arise as a consequence of conformational constraints inherent in the substrates. Cu-catalyzed Buchner reactions have been anployed to access derivatives of stable norcaradiene fragments found in several natural products (e.g., gibberellin GA j and (-r)-salvileucalin B, Scheme 15.27b and c, respectively) [79]. 

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