Tetracyclic pyrrolizidines

An efficient methodology for the construction of pyrrolizidines and other polycyclic nitrogen heterocycles using a radical domino sequence has been revealed by Bowman and coworkers [46]. These authors employed sulfenamides as substrates, which easily form aminyl radicals by treatment with tributyltin hydride and AIBN. For instance, 3-101 smoothly underwent a twofold 5-exo-trig cyclization to give the tetracyclic pyrrolizidine product 3-105 in 90% yield (Scheme 3.26). As intermediates, the radicals 3-102 to 3-104 can be assumed. 

Members of the tetracyclic dibenzopyrrocoline alkaloid family can be prepared by the intramolecular ring closure of l-(o-halobcnzyl)-tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives. (3.38.)47 The analogous transformation of dihydroisoquinolines (3.39.) proceeds probably through the isomeric enamine form obtained by the tautomeric shift of the double bond 48 The palladium-carbene catalyst system applied in these reactions was also effective in the preparation of indoline, indolizidine and pyrrolizidine derivatives 49... 

The scope of the lanthanide-mediated, intramolecular amination/cyclization reaction has been determined for the formation of substituted quinolizidines, indolizidines, and pyrrolizidines,1046 as well as tricyclic and tetracyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocycles.1047 The amide derivative OT ro-[ethylene-bis(indenyl)]ytterbium(m) bis(trimethyl-silyl)amide catalyzes the hydroamination of primary olefins in excellent yields.701 A facile intramolecular hydroamination process catalyzed by [(C5H4SiMe3)2Nd(/r-Me)]2 has also been reported. The lanthanide-catalyzed hydroamination enables a rapid access to 10,1 l-dihydro-5//-dibenzo[tf,rf]cyclohepten-5,10-imines (Scheme 283).1048... 

Simple bicyclic compounds form a rather small subset of the lupine (or lupin) alkaloids, the overwhelming majority of which have tricyclic or tetracyclic structures based on the quinolizidine motif. These alkaloids are characteristic metabolites of the Papilionoideae, a sub-family of the Leguminosae (Fabaceae), although representative examples have also been isolated from several other plant families. The simple lupine quinolizidines were surveyed in Volume 28 of this treatise (7), while later reviews in Volumes 31 (5) and 47 (9) comprehensively covered all classes of lupine alkaloids, including those containing indolizidine components. Much relevant material is also to be found in the review on the biosynthesis of pyrrolizidine and... 

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