Asymmetric electrocyclic reactions

Diastereoselectivity in the Staudinger reaction of pentafluorosulfanylaldimines and ketimines

β-Lactams were diastereoselectively formed by the reaction of SF₅-containing aldimines, or an SF₅-containing ketimine, with benzyloxyketene in a conrotatory ring closure process. Imine formation and cyclization were possible in spite of the acidification of protons on the carbon bound to SF₅. The reactions of the aldimines demonstrated very good 1,2-lk diastereoselectivity, however lack of stereochemical control of the C–N ketimine geometry was reflected in the stereochemistry of the product β-lactam. Cyclization of imines with a stereogenic center bearing SF₅ was reflected in the 1,2-lk,lk selectivity of the β-lactam.

Proton donor acidity controls selectivity in nonaromatic nitrogen heterocycle synthesis

Piperidines are prevalent in natural products and pharmaceutical agents and are important synthetic targets for drug discovery and development. We report on a methodology that provides highly substituted piperidine derivatives with regiochemistry selectively tunable by varying the strength of acid used in the reaction. Readily available starting materials are first converted to dihydropyridines via a cascade reaction initiated by rhodium-catalyzed carbon-hydrogen bond activation. Subsequent divergent regio- and diastereoselective protonation of the dihydropyridines under either kinetic or thermodynamic control provides two distinct iminium ion intermediates that then undergo highly diastereoselective nucleophilic additions. X-ray structural characterization of both the kinetically and thermodynamically favored iminium ions along with density functional theory calculations provide a theoretical underpinning for the high selectivities achieved for the reaction sequences.

A torquoselective 6π electrocyclization approach to reserpine alkaloids

A highly torquoselective thermal triene 6π electrocyclization controls the relative stereochemistry between the C3 and C18 stereocenters of the dodecahydroindolo[2,3-a]benzo[g]quinolizine skeleton of reserpine-type alkaloids. Employing a tandem cross-coupling/electrocyclization protocol allowed us to form the requisite triene and ensure its subsequent cyclization. A novel low-temperature dibromoketene acetal Claisen rearrangement established the requisite exocyclic dienylbromide precursor for the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction.

Asymmetric induction in 8π electrocyclizations. Design of a removable chiral auxiliary

The pseudo C(2) symmetric trans diphenyl oxazoline group acts as an effective chiral auxiliary in the 8π, 6π tandem electrocyclization of a substituted tetraene 1-carboxylic acid. Assignment of absolute stereochemistry to the [4.2.0] bicyclooctadiene product supports a model in which both s-cis and s-trans conformations favor the transition states with the same helical twist. This assignment prefaces the development of analogs of SNF4435 C and D. These natural products demonstrate activity as androgen receptor antagonists and as multidrug resistance (mdr) reversal agents.