Understanding Structural Isomerization during Ruthenium-Catalyzed Olefin Metathesis: A Deuterium Labeling Study

Total synthesis of the indolizidine alkaloid tashiromine

BACKGROUND

Tashiromine 1 is a naturally occurring indolizidine alkaloid. It has been the subject of thirteen successful total syntheses to date. Our own approach centres on the stereoselective construction of the indolizidine core by capture of an electrophilic acyliminium species by a pendant allylsilane. The key cyclisation precursor is constructed using olefin cross-metathesis chemistry, which has the potential to facilitate both racemic and asymmetric approaches, depending upon the choice of the allylsilane metathesis partner.

RESULTS

The use of the allyltrimethylsilane cross-metathesis approach enables the rapid construction of the key cyclisation precursor 3 (3 steps from commercial materials), which undergoes acid-induced cyclisation to give the desired bicyclic indolizidine skeleton as a 96:4 mixture of diastereomers. Simple functional group interconversions allowed the completion of the total synthesis of racemic tashiromine in six steps (19% overall yield). Three chiral alpha-alkoxyallylsilanes (12,14 and 15) were prepared in enantioenriched form and their cross-metathesis reactions studied as part of a putative asymmetric approach to tashiromine. In the event, alpha-hydroxysilane 12 underwent isomerisation under the reaction conditions to acylsilane 17, while silanes 14 and 15 were unreactive towards metathesis.

CONCLUSION

A concise, stereoselective total synthesis of racemic tashiromine has been developed. Attempts to translate this into an asymmetric synthesis have thus far been unsuccessful.

Decomposition of Ruthenium Olefin Metathesis Catalysts

The decomposition of a series of ruthenium metathesis catalysts has been examined using methylidene species as model complexes. All of the phosphine-containing methylidene complexes decomposed to generate methylphosphonium salts, and their decomposition routes followed first-order kinetics. The formation of these salts in high conversion, coupled with the observed kinetic behavior for this reaction, suggests that the major decomposition pathway involves nucleophilic attack of a dissociated phosphine on the methylidene carbon. This mechanism also is consistent with decomposition observed in the presence of ethylene as a model olefin substrate. The decomposition of phosphine-free catalyst (H2IMes)(Cl)2Ru=CH(2-C6H4-O-i-Pr) (H2IMes = 1,3-dimesityl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene) with ethylene was found to generate unidentified ruthenium hydride species. The novel ruthenium complex (H2IMes)(pyridine)3(Cl)2Ru, which was generated during the synthetic attempts to prepare the highly unstable pyridine-based methylidene complex (H2IMes)(pyridine)2(Cl)2Ru=CH2, is also reported.

Efficient removal of ruthenium byproducts from olefin metathesis products by simple aqueous extraction

Simple aqueous extraction removed ruthenium byproducts efficiently from ring-closing metathesis (RCM) reactions catalyzed by a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) supported N-heterocyclic carbene-based ruthenium complex.