Synthetic Applications of Butadiene Telomers

Various butadiene telomers obtained by Pd-calalyzed reactions have one functional group at one end and a terminal and an internal double bond, and they 

3-Acetoxy-l,7-octadiene (40) is converted into l,7-octadien-3-one (124) by hydrolysis and oxidation. The most useful application of this enone 124 is bisannulation to form two fused six-membered ketonesfl 13], The Michael addition of 2-methyl-1,3-cyclopentanedione (125) to 124 and asymmetric aldol condensation using (5)-phenylalanine afford the optically active diketone 126. The terminal alkene is oxidi2ed with PdCl2-CuCl2-02 to give the methyl ketone 127 in 77% yield. Finally, reduction of the double bond and aldol condensation produce the important intermediate 128 of steroid synthesis in optically pure form[114]. 

The method was applied to the synthesis of (-t-)-l9-nortestosterone by the following sequence of reactions. Michael addition of the bisannulation reagent 124 to the optically active keto ester 129 and decarboxylation afforded 130, and subsequent aldol condensation gave 131. Selective Pd-catalyzed oxidation of the terminal double bond afforded the diketone 132 in 78% yield. Reduction of the double bond and aldol condensation gave ( + )-19-nortestosterone (133)[114]. 

The trisannulation reagent 7-acetoxy-l,l l-dodecadien-3-one (134) is derived from the bisannulation reagent 124 in four steps. This reagent is a synthetic equivalent of l-dodecene-3,7,11-trione, and the two ketone groups of the trione are masked as an acetoxy and a terminal alkene. The synthesis of optically active D-homo-19-norandrosta-4-en-3-one (135) by the trisannulation reaction 

The telomer 40 is converted into lipoic acid (136) by modification of three functional groups, as shown[l 16]. 

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