Swainsonines, synthesis

Poisson and his colleagues have used aspects of their swainsonine synthesis (cf Scheme 83 Section 3.5.2) in similar approaches to both castanospermine... 

The intramolecular /zetero-Diels-Alder reactions of 4-O-protected acyl-nitroso compounds 81, generated in situ from hydroxamic acids 80 by periodate oxidation, were investigated under various conditions in order to obtain the best endo/exo ratio of adducts 82 and 83 [65h] (Table 4.15). The endo adducts are key intermediates for the synthesis of optically active swainsonine [66a] and pumiliotoxin [66b]. The use of CDs in aqueous medium improves the reaction yield and selectivity with respect to organic solvents. 

RCM, followed by dihydroxylation of the double bond, is one of the most used methods for the synthesis of these compounds. For two syntheses of (—)-swainsonine 230, the five-membered ring is formed by RCM, followed by cis-dihydroxylation. Blechert et al. <2002JOC4325> prepared the precursor 2,5-dihydropyrroline 234 by domino ring-opening/ring-closing metathesis of an amino cyclopentene derivative 233 (Scheme 49). 

As an example of the usefulness of the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation the enantioselective synthesis of (-)-swainsonine and an early note by Nicolaou on the stereocontrolled synthesis of 1, 3, 5...(2n + 1) polyols, undertaken in connection with a programme directed towards the total synthesis of polyene macrolide antibiotics, such as amphotericin B and nystatin Aj, will be discussed. 

Swainsonine is a trihydroxylated bicyclic indolizidine alkaloid with four chiral centres, whose relative stereochemistry was determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis and the absolute configuration was deduced on the basis of biosynthetic and asymmetric induction studies, and then confirmed by an enantiospecific synthesis from D-mannose [2a]. 

The general strategy for the synthesis of (-)-swainsonine [5] is to prepare an acyclic key intermediate with the required stereochemistry and proceed then to a double intramolecular cyclisation. 

This synthesis of (-)-swainsonine involves 21 steps and proceeds with an overall yield of 6.6% from tran5-l,4-dichloro-2-butene. It is not only the first reported noncarbohydrate route to this natural product, but it allows the stereoselective access to all 16 epimers and/or enantiomers of swainsonine as well. 

SCHEME 37. The Hough, Richardson, and Mezher Ali synthesis of (—)-swainsonine (1984). 

Cha and co-workers (50) reported a short enantioselective synthesis of the indo-lizidine alkaloid, (—)-swainsonine (247) involving an intramolecular cycloaddition... 

Pearson and Lin (52) developed an elegant approach to the synthesis of optically active ( )-swainsonine (247) from isopropylidene-D-erythrose (242) (Scheme 9.52). Wittig reaction of the acetonide 242 led to the (Z) alkene 252 in 86% yield. The chloro alcohol 252 was converted to the azide 253 in 76% yield, which subsequently underwent 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, isomerization and hydroboration-oxidation to give the indolizidine 255 in 70% overall yield. Cleavage of the acetonide unit in 255 using 6 N HCl gave the target molecule 247 in 85% yield. 

A trail pheromone of the Pharaoh ant was identified as 3-butyl-5-methylindolizidine of the stereochemistry given in (219) (75JHC289). Slaframine (220) is a metabolite isolated from Rhizoctonia leguminicola responsible for producing excessive salivation in cattle. A stereoselective synthesis was reported (73JOC3848). Swainsonine (221), a potent inhibitor of a-mannosidase, has been isolated from Swainsona caneszens. The stereochemistry was derived from the NMR spectrum (79AJC2257). 

This method was adapted towards the synthesis of the natural product swainsonine which closely resembles l,2,3,5,6,8a-hexahydroindolizine (1). 

Despite the similarity between compound 1 and (-)-swainsonine, a different retrosynthetic strategy was devised for the synthesis of (-)-swainsonine (Scheme 3).19 The ring rearrangement yielded the hydropyrrolidine 5, which was prepared from the precursor 6. The enantiometrically pure oxazolidine derivative 7 was a suitable chiral starting material, as it was efficiently synthesised from the diol 8. As with the synthesis of 1, a palladium (0) catalysed allylic amination was carried out in the presence of ligand L (Scheme 2)14 to give 7 with an ee of 97%, which was increased to >99% on recrystallisation with dichloromethane/hexane. 

Enantiopure a, ft -unsaturated 5-lactams react stereoselectively with carbon-, nitrogen-, sulfur-, and oxygen-centred nucleophiles [N3-, Me(CH2)nS, MeO-, and n-Bu-]. The synthetic potential of these conjugate additions has been demonstrated through the synthesis of two new substituted indolizidines, (7/f)-7-amino-8-deoxy-swainsonine and (7/ )-7-acetylaminoswainsonin.133... 

An ab initio study of the 2 + 2-cycloadditions of allene to isocyanic acid and ketene to vinylimine found the reactions to be concerted and mostly asynchronous.28,29 The diastereoselective 2 + 2-cycloaddition of dichloroketene with a chiral enol ether (26) produced the cyclobutanone (27), which leads to a key intermediate (28) in (g) the total synthesis of the natural alkaloid (-)-Swainsonine (29) (Scheme 8).30 The... 

The Beckmann rearrangement is used in a similar way to produce the lactam 32, an intermediate in the synthesis of swainsonine 33. Stereoselective addition of dichloroketene to the enol ether 30 gave one isomer ( 95 5) of cyclobutanone 31. Beckmann rearrangement with a sulfonated hydroxylamine and dechlorination gave the lactam 32 in 34% yield over five steps7 from a precursor of 30. Note that the m-alkene 30 gives the trans cyclobutanone selectively. 

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