Tetrahydrofurane derivatives

Terminal alkyne anions are popular reagents for the acyl anion synthons (RCHjCO"). If this nucleophile is added to aldehydes or ketones, the triple bond remains. This can be con verted to an alkynemercury(II) complex with mercuric salts and is hydrated with water or acids to form ketones (M.M.T. Khan, 1974). The more substituted carbon atom of the al-kynes is converted preferentially into a carbonyl group. Highly substituted a-hydroxyketones are available by this method (J.A. Katzenellenbogen, 1973). Acetylene itself can react with two molecules of an aldehyde or a ketone (V. jager, 1977). Hydration then leads to 1,4-dihydroxy-2-butanones. The 1,4-diols tend to condense to tetrahydrofuran derivatives in the presence of acids. 

In MeOH, l,4-dimethoxy-2-cyclohexene (379) is obtainejl from 1,3-cydo-hexadiene[315]. Acetoxylation and the intramolecular alkoxylation took place in the synthesis of the naturally occurring tetrahydrofuran derivative 380 and is another example of the selective introduction of different nucleo-philes[316]. In intramolecular 1,4-oxyacetoxylation to form the fused tetrahy-drofurans and tetrahydropyrans 381, cis addition takes place in the presence of a catalytic amount of LiCI, whereas the trans product is obtained in its absence[317]. The stereocontrolled oxaspirocyclization proceeds to afford the Irons product 382 in the presence of Li2C03 and the cis product in the presence of LiCl[ 318,319]. 

Heterocyclic Alcohols. Thek reactions with chloroformates lead to carbonates. Thus furan- and tetrahydrofuran-derived alcohols give the corresponding carbonates in 75% yield (15). Inorganic bases and tertiary amines as acid acceptors increase the rate and yield in this reaction. 

In most cases the carbon radical formed in the hydrogen abstraction step 2 will react with the radical R formed in the homolysis of the X—R bond. However, a cage reaction does not seem to be involved in this step. This has been established in the nitrite photolysis and probably applies to hypohalites as well. In the lead tetraacetate reaction, the steps following the oxyradical formation leading to tetrahydrofuran derivatives are less clear. 

The oxidation of alcohols with lead tetraacetate was the first reaction used for oxygenation of an angular methyl group in steroids. It is a simple and efficient method and produces tetrahydrofuran derivatives directly from alcohols. 

A mechanism for its formation was also proposed. Essentially, this involved protonation of 2-methylfuran followed by dimerization and trimerization to a 2,4-difuryl tetrahydrofuran derivative which suffered an acid catalysed cleavage of the saturated ring to produce a carbenium ion possessing an alcoholic function at the other end of... 

The application of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition processes to the synthesis of substituted tetrahydrofurans has been investigated, starting from epoxides and alkenes under microwave irradiation. The epoxide 85 was rapidly converted into carbonyl ylide 86 that behaved as a 1,3-dipole toward various alkenes, leading to quantitative yields of tetrahydrofuran derivatives 87 (Scheme 30). The reactions were performed in toluene within 40 min instead of 40 h under classical conditions, without significantly altering the selectivi-ties [64]. 

The 10 OC route was followed for the synthesis of tetrahydrofurans possessing a y-amino alcohol moiety 247 (Eq. 29) 118]. Aldoximes 21a-f (see also Eq. 3 and Table 2), when heated in benzene in a sealed tube at 110 -120 °C for 6 h, underwent smooth intramolecular cycloaddition to the tetrahydrofuranoisoxazo-lidines 246a-f in 70-83% yield (Eq. 29). This ring closure proceeded stereo-specifically to generate three adjacent stereogenic centers. LAH reduction of 246 b resulted in isolation of stereospecifically functionalized tetrahydrofuran derivative 247b in 75% yield. 

Next, option B was examined. Oxidation of 14 with mCPBA proceeded well, leading to epoxide 22. However, cyclizahon of the enolate of epoxide 22 did not provide the desired five-membered product 23. The only isolated product was a tetrahydrofuran derivative 24, which resulted from the O-attack of the enolate to the epoxide instead of the desired C-attack. Therefore, development of this route was also terminated. 

Studies of cathodic reduction have been few. Amusingly, attempted anodic oxidation of the furyl ketone 123 actually resulted in cathodic reduction to the dimer 124 the corresponding ester was oxidized normally, however.301 Sometimes the dimethoxydihydrofurans formed in oxidation processes are reduced in a side reaction leading to the tetrahydrofuran derivatives.302 By using dimethylformamide as solvent instead of the protic solvents used formerly, a Czech group has demonstrated that the cathodic reductions of furans can produce fairly stable anion radicals having ESR spectra which agree well with theory.3023... 

The synthesis of tetrahydrofuran derivatives from unsaturated alcohols via hydroformylation intermediates was developed many years ago. Moderate yields are obtained from but-2-en-l,4-diol (Scheme 54)94 but hydroformylation is not the major pathway when coniferyl alcohol is subjected to the oxo process (Scheme 55).9S A more complicated reaction is involved... 

An interesting feature of the cyclization of y, -unsaturated alcohols is the marked effect on product isomer distribution by the nature of substituents remote from the double bond (cf. 42 and Scheme 59).98 Complete stereospecificity is observed for the phenyl derivative 42a in contrast to 42b and c, and the isomer ratio is reversed for 42d. The suggested mechanism98 is shown in Scheme 60 the trisubstituted alkene (45) is mainly converted into a pyran (46) rather than a tetrahydrofuran derivative (Scheme 61). 

Isomeric tetrahydrofuran derivatives (47 and 48) are formed by copper(II)-catalyzed decomposition of methyl diazoacetate in 2-phenyloxetan (Scheme 62).99 Use of the chiral homogeneous catalyst, bis[N-(i )-a-phenylethylsali-cylaldiminato]copper(II) (49),100 causes asymmetric induction albeit with... 

The oxacarbene in (2.1) is usually trapped by water or an alcohol to give hydroxy- or alkoxy tetrahydrofuran derivatives. This sequence has been connected with the synthesis of prostaglandines (2.3) 206). 

Miyafuji and Katsuki95 reported the desymmetrization of meso-tetrahydrofuran derivatives via highly enantioselective C-H oxidation using Mn-salen catalysts. The optically active product lactols (up to 90% ee) are useful chiral building blocks for organic synthesis (Scheme 8-48). 

The intermediate 452 resulting from the direct reaction of PPh3 with an allenyl ketone can also serve as an all-carbon 1,3-dipole to undergo [8 + 2]-annelation with tropone to yield fused bicyclic tetrahydrofuran derivatives 455 [203]. 

All these reactions are examples of oxidative cyclocarbonylation-alkoxy-carbonylation. However, the Pdh/KI catalytic system turned out to be a very efficient catalyst also for promoting cyclization-alkoxycarbonylation processes. In fact, optimal conditions were found for selectively converting 4-yn-l-ols into tetrahydrofuran derivatives (Eq. 41) [107] through 5-exo-dig cyclization followed by alkoxycarbonylation (Scheme 19, path a). This kind of process was not possible for the propynyl, 3-yn-l-ol, and 2-ethynylaniline substrates, seen before, for stereoelectronic reasons [302], With the latter substrates, the endo cyclization mode (Scheme 19, path b), although in principle stereo electronically allowed, was not observed. 

This kind of reactivity turned out to be particularly attractive when applied to suitably functionalized terminal alkynes. Oxidative monoaminocarbonylation of 4-yn-l-ols led to the formation of tetrahydrofuran derivatives through intramolecular conjugate addition of -OH group to the triple bond of the initially formed 6-hydroxy-2-ynamide intermediates (Scheme 38) [310]. 

Fig. 25 The monoclonal antibody 26D9, generated to the jV-oxide hapten [67], catalysed the 6-exo-tet ring closure of [65] regioselectively to yield the disfavoured tetrahydropyran product [68]. This is a formal violation of Baldwin s rules, which predicts a 5-exo-tet spontaneous process to generate tetrahydrofuran derivative [66].

Muscarine is a tetrahydrofuran derivative with the structure shown in Figure 3.7a. Because of the three chirality centers present in the molecule, muscarine exists in eight isomers, of which only one, L-(- -)-muscarine, is active. The remaining isomers also have been detected in toxic fungi, but because of their low biological activity and low concentration they do not contribute to toxicity. 

Shibasaki et al. developed a polymer-supported bifunctional catalyst (33) in which aluminum was complexed to a chiral binaphtyl derivative containing also two Lewis basic phosphine oxide-functionahties. The binaphtyl unit was attached via a non-coordinating alkenyl Hnker to the Janda Jel-polymer, a polystyrene resin containing flexible tetrahydrofuran-derived cross-Hnkers and showing better swelling properties than Merifield resins (Scheme 4.19) [105]. Catalyst (33) was employed in the enantioselective Strecker-type synthesis of imines with TMSCN. 

Allyloxy and 2-propargyloxy alkyl tellurides as precursors of tetrahydrofuran derivatives... 

The allyloxy and propargyloxy compounds are easily prepared by the opening of mono-substituted epoxides with sodium aryl tellurolates, followed by allylation and propargyla-tion of the obtained -hydroxytellurides, submitted to irradiation with a sun lamp in the presence of hexabutylditin, and suffer group-transfer cyclization under 5-exo-mode to give the 2,4-disubstituted tetrahydrofuran derivatives. ... 

Dihydro- and tetrahydrofuroisoxazoline rings were constructed by intramolecular cycloaddition of nitrile oxides or nitrones, generated from oximes . Thus, oxime 30 and sodium hypochlorite afforded furoisoxazolines 31 (equation 14). Similarly, furanyl or thienyl oximes 32 in the presence of NaOCl afforded tricyclic products 33 in 35-90% yields (equation 15). Nitrostyrenes (ArCH=CHN02) and various nucleophiles (for example, allyl mercaptan) also generated hydroximoyl chlorides which underwent similar cycloaddition leading to bicycUc tetrahydrothiophene and tetrahydrofuran derivatives ... 

Normally, however, the reaction involving the formation of hydroxy-methylfurfural proceeds less readily than does the hydrogenation of glucose and fructose to mannitol and sorbitol, but its occurrence is detected by the fact that tetrahydrofuran derivatives have been isolated from the hydrogenation products. Thus, we have isolated tetrahydrofuran 2,5-dicarbinol (identified as its ditosyl derivative), 5-methyltetra-hydrofurfuryl alcohol and 2,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran (VII) together with hydrogenolysis products of these compounds. 

The influence of the size and configuration of various cyclic vinyl carriers (Scheme 6.26) on the stereoselectivity of cycloaddition was studied, and included epoxides, (3-lactams, dioxaborolanes, and dioxans (22). Although the anti preference was maintained in all cases, the conformation of the carrier ring must also be taken into account in order to rationalize the stereoselections observed. The highest diastereomeric ratio was observed with the vinyl-tetrahydrofuran derived from glucose, where the conformational mobility of the carrier ring is substantially locked by an acetonide clamp and one face of the C=C bond is effectively shielded (22,165,215). 

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