Synthesis complex natural product

R B Woodward was one of the leading organic chemists of the middle part of the twenti eth century Known pnmanly for his achievements in the synthesis of complex natural products he was awarded the Nobel Pnze in chemistry in 1965 He entered Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology as a 16 year old freshman in 1933 and four years later was awarded the Ph D While a student there he earned out a synthesis of estrone a female sex hormone The early stages of Woodward s estrone synthesis required the conversion of m methoxybenzaldehyde to m methoxy benzyl cyanide which was accomplished in three steps... 

Many notable examples of the synthesis of complex natural products from optically pure starting materials have been reported (70). One synthesis of considerable interest is that of taxol [33069-62-4] (74), a potent antitumor agent used clinically. The starting material (73) used ia the first total synthesis of taxol is produced ia enantiomericaHy pure form from inexpensive and readily available /-camphor [464-48-2] (72) (73). 

The generality of the dioxahorolane method makes it well-suited for synthesis of complex natural products. For example, Nicolaou et al. have successfully used... 

Woodward achieved his first signal success of a lifetime devoted to the preparation of increasingly complex natural products by total synthesis by the successful preparation of quinine. Despite its elegance, this synthesis did not provide a commercially viable alternative to isolation of the drug from chincona bark. A rather short synthesis for this drug from readily available starting materials has been only recently developed by the group at Hoffmann-LaRoche. (The economics of this synthesis are,... 

For the synthesis of the complex natural product, the terminus six-membered ketone 55 had to be transformed into an oxepane ring. For this necessary transformation, the authors were attracted by the single-carbon homologation of a pyr-anone (a sort of ring-expansion) because, in prindple, it could be used in an iterative sense at any stage of the 6-endo cydization in their poly-TH P-based synthetic approach for the synthesis of trans-fused 6,7,6 (THP-oxepane-THP) and 6,7,7 (THP-oxepane-oxepane) ring systems [28]. Treatment of ketone 55 with TMSCHN2... 

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. 

The anticancer activity of complex natural products having a cyclodecenediyne system [for a review see <96MI93>] has prompted the synthesis of 54 (X = CH2 and OCH2) <96CC749> and 55 (R = a-OH and p-OH) <95AG(E)2393> on the basis that such compounds are expected to develop anticancer activity as the P-lactam ring opens. This is because cycloaromatization can only occur in the monocyclic enediyne and the diradical intermediate in the cyclization is thought to be the cytotoxic species. 

Whitlock, H.W. (1998) On the Structure of Total Synthesis of Complex Natural Products. Journal... 

His research program focuses on the asymmetric synthesis of biologically active, stereo-chemically complex, natural products. Target molecules are selected which pose unique challenges in asymmetric bond construction. A complex multistep synthesis endeavour... 

Furthermore, iterative approaches are useful methods to construct polyhydroxy chains with 1,2- or 1,3-diol units of any length as chiral precursors for the synthesis of complex natural products [57] because automated synthesis becomes feasible. A preparation of trans-fused polytetrahydropyranes as structural unit for polycyclic ether biotoxines by repeated reaction sequences was recently named reiterative synthesis [58]. 

As with all-carbon Diels-Alder reactions, the hetero-Diels-Alder reaction [41] can also be used as the first step in many combinations with other transformations. In contrast to the normal Diels-Alder reaction, several examples are known where the first step is followed by a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. This type of domino reaction has been especially investigated by Denmark and coworkers, and used for the synthesis of several complex natural products. Since Denmark has reviewed his studies in... 

Primary nitro compounds are good precursors for preparing nitriles and nitrile oxides (Eq. 6.31). The conversion of nitro compounds into nitrile oxides affords an important tool for the synthesis of complex natural products. Nitrile oxides are reactive 1,3-dipoles that form isoxazolines or isoxazoles by the reaction with alkenes or alky nes, respectively. The products are also important precursors for various substrates such as P-amino alcohols, P-hydroxy ketones, P-hydroxy nitriles, and P-hydroxy acids (Scheme 6.3). Many good reviews concerning nitrile oxides in organic synthesis exist some of them are listed here.50-56 Applications of organic synthesis using nitrile oxides are discussed in Section 8.2.2. 

Diels-Alder reactions are one of the most fundamental and useful reactions in synthetic organic chemistry. Various dienes and dienophiles have been employed for this useful reaction.1 Nitroalkenes take part in a host of Diels-Alder reactions in various ways, as outlined in Scheme 8.1. Various substituted nitroalkenes and dienes have been employed for this reaction without any substantial improvement in the original discovery of Alder and coworkers.2 Nitrodienes can also serve as 4ti-components for reverse electron demand in Diels-Alder reactions. Because the nitro group is converted into various functional groups, as discussed in Chapters 6 and 7, the Diels-Alder reaction of nitroalkenes has been frequently used in synthesis of complex natural products. Recently, Denmark and coworkers have developed [4+2] cycloaddition using nitroalkenes as heterodienes it provides an excellent method for the preparation of heterocyclic compounds, including pyrrolizidine alkaloids. This is discussed in Section 8.3. 

In a series of publications over the past few years, the group of Barriault has reported on microwave-assisted tandem oxy-Cope/Claisen/ene and closely related reactions [175-178], These pericyclic transformations typically proceed in a highly stereoselective fashion and can be exploited for the synthesis of complex natural products possessing decalin skeletons, such as the abietane diterpene wiedamannic... 

Cycloaddition reactions, which increase molecular complexity by formation of a cyclic compound and, simultaneously, two C-C or C-X bonds [1], are among the most widely used reactions in organic synthesis. The reactions are also regio- and stereoselective. For these reasons, such processes are usually the key step in the multistep synthesis of natural products. 

Only the general pattern of these reactions is described. In many cases the actual course of a reaction has not been elucidated, but for our purposes, the general schemes which are presented offer the opportunity to consider synthetic applications from a unified point of view. The schemes are broad in nature and possibly include some reactions still to be found. Examples illustrating the schemes do not cover the entire subject. They have been selected to provide evidence for the extensive nature of the field, particularly in the synthesis of natural products or of unusual molecules. Reactions leading to metal complexes and not to organic products have been excluded. Reactions occurring under mild conditions are naturally preferred. Reported yields, and the complexes employed, refer to the underlined references cited in the tables. 

Chemists are exploiting catalytic C-H functionalization methodology for the synthesis of natural products or molecules of increasing complexity often with high degrees of regio-, chemo- and stereoselectivies. 

In recent years, the related C-H insertion chemistry of nitrenes has gained considerable momentum.36 Effective chiral catalysts have been developed as well as new methods for generation of the nitrene precursors. Even more impressive has been the application of this chemistry to the synthesis of complex natural products. The scope of this chemistry is described in Section 10.04.4. 

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