Woodwards Reagent

Isoxazolium method, peptide bond formation using N-ethyl-5-phenylisoxazolium-3 -sulfonate (Woodward reagent K) forming an end ester with N-protected amino acids and peptides which reacts in situ with the amino component providing the desired product beside a water-soluble aryl sulfonate as a byproduct that is easy to separate [R. B. Woodward, R. A. Olofson. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1961, 83,1010]. 

Woodward, Robert Burns, 1917-1979 (Plate 50). Born in Boston in 1917, he entered Massachusetts Instutute of Technology in 1933 and graduated as Ph.D. in 1937. Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard(1937-40). Instructor in Chemistry (1941-1944). Assistant Professor (1944-46), Associate Professor (1946-50X Professor from 1950 until his death in 1979. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1965, for his outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis . Woodwards reagent (p. 90), synthesis of cephalosporin C (p. 200), poly-a-amino-acids (p. 37). 

Amidation is also possible by activating the carboxyl group with an isooxazolium salt Woodward reagent) to an enolester and its conversion with an amine. 

The amino add analysis of all peptide chains on the resins indicated a ratio of Pro Val 6.6 6.0 (calcd. 6 6). The peptides were then cleaved from the resin with 30% HBr in acetic acid and chromatogra phed on sephadex LH-20 in 0.001 M HCl. 335 mg dodecapeptide was isolated. Hydrolysis followed by quantitative amino acid analysis gave a ratio of Pro Val - 6.0 5.6 (calcd. 6 6). Cycll2ation in DMF with Woodward s reagent K (see scheme below) yielded after purification 138 mg of needles of the desired cyc-lododecapeptide with one equiv of acetic add. The compound yielded a yellow adduct with potassium picrate, and here an analytically more acceptable ratio Pro Val of 1.03 1.00 (calcd. 1 1) was found. The mass spectrum contained a molecular ion peak. No other spectral measurements (lack of ORD, NMR) have been reported. For a thirty-six step synthesis in which each step may cause side-reaaions the characterization of the final product should, of course, be more elaborate. 

In the post-World War II years, synthesis attained a different level of sophistication partly as a result of the confluence of five stimuli (1) the formulation of detailed electronic mechanisms for the fundamental organic reactions, (2) the introduction of conformational analysis of organic structures and transition states based on stereochemical principles, (3) the development of spectroscopic and other physical methods for structural analysis, (4) the use of chromatographic methods of analysis and separation, and (5) the discovery and application of new selective chemical reagents. As a result, the period 1945 to 1960 encompassed the synthesis of such complex molecules as vitamin A (O. Isler, 1949), cortisone (R. Woodward, R. Robinson, 1951), strychnine (R. Woodward, 1954), cedrol (G. Stork, 1955), morphine (M. Gates, 1956), reserpine (R. Woodward, 1956), penicillin V (J. Sheehan, 1957), colchicine (A. Eschenmoser, 1959), and chlorophyll (R. Woodward, 1960) (page 5). ... 

The reactivity of the 1-methyl group and of corresponding positions (i.e., a-carbon atoms) in other l-alkyl-j8-carbolines, analogous to that in a-picoline, quinaldine, and isoquinaldine, is due to the acidity of this center. Deprotonation yields a resonance-stabilized anion (288) which reacts readily with electrophilic reagents. Metallation with phenyl-lithium of the 1-methyl group of a l-methyl-j8-carboline derivative in which the indole nitrogen is protected, first described by Woodward... 

The preparation of Pans-1,2-cyclohexanediol by oxidation of cyclohexene with peroxyformic acid and subsequent hydrolysis of the diol monoformate has been described, and other methods for the preparation of both cis- and trans-l,2-cyclohexanediols were cited. Subsequently the trans diol has been prepared by oxidation of cyclohexene with various peroxy acids, with hydrogen peroxide and selenium dioxide, and with iodine and silver acetate by the Prevost reaction. Alternative methods for preparing the trans isomer are hydroboration of various enol derivatives of cyclohexanone and reduction of Pans-2-cyclohexen-l-ol epoxide with lithium aluminum hydride. cis-1,2-Cyclohexanediol has been prepared by cis hydroxylation of cyclohexene with various reagents or catalysts derived from osmium tetroxide, by solvolysis of Pans-2-halocyclohexanol esters in a manner similar to the Woodward-Prevost reaction, by reduction of cis-2-cyclohexen-l-ol epoxide with lithium aluminum hydride, and by oxymercuration of 2-cyclohexen-l-ol with mercury(II) trifluoro-acetate in the presence of ehloral and subsequent reduction. ... 

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