Stork s vinyl radical cyclization

Scheme 4. Stork s vinyl radical cyclization strategy for the synthesis of norseychellanone (25)...

Vinyl radicals can also participate in 6-exo cyclizations. In pioneering work, Stork and his group at Columbia University showed that stereoisomeric vinyl bromides 20 and 21 (see Scheme 3) can be converted to cyclohexene 22.7 The significance of this finding is twofold first, the stereochemistry of the vinyl bromide is inconsequential since both stereoisomers converge upon the same product and second, the radical cyclization process tolerates electrophilic methoxycarbonyl groups. The observation that the stereochemistry of the vinyl bromide is inconsequential is not surprising because the barrier for inversion of most vinyl radicals is very low.8 This important feature of vinyl radical cyclization chemistry is also exemplified in the conversion of vinyl bromide 23 to tricycle 24, the key step in Stork s synthesis of norseychellanone (25) (see Scheme 4).9 As in... 

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