Stereoselective Synthesis of Alcohols, XLVI. Synthesis of a Hydroxytrioxaadamantane, a Model for the Trioxaadamantane Moiety of Muamvatin

The thiopyran route to polypropionates

The strategic use of thiopyran templates to facilitate polypropionate synthesis was first demonstrated in Woodward's landmark total synthesis of erythromycin A in 1981 where the topology of a fused bicyclic system was exploited. In the ensuing three decades, various alternative strategic applications of thiopyran motifs to achieve key stereoselective transformations have emerged including, inter alia, unique substrates for chemoenzymatic syntheses, surrogates for 3-pentanone in enantioselective aldol reactions, and templates for enantiotopic group selective reactions. This review summarizes these developments.

Total Synthesis of a Hemiacetal Polypropionate from Siphonaria australis

A highly stereocontrolled synthesis of (2S,3R,5R,6S)-6-[(1E,3R)-1,3-dimethylhex-1-enyl]-2-ethyl-2-hydroxy-3,5-dimethyltetrahydro-4H-pyran-4-one has been achieved in 13 steps and an overall yield of 7.6% from (R)-(+)-4-benzyloxazolidin-2-one. This substrate-controlled asymmetric synthesis utilized Paterson’s lactate-derived chiral ketone (2S)-2-(benzoyloxy) pentan-3-one to generate the 5R and 6S stereocentres and alkylation of an Evans’ auxiliary to generate the remote side-chain 3R stereocentre. Furthermore, a novel, highly efficient, and selective strategy was used to generate an enol trimethylsilyl ether whose subsequent Mukaiyama aldol condensation gave the acyclic precursor to the final product. A thermodynamically controlled cyclization then gave (2S,3R,5R,6S)-6-[(1E,3R)-1,3-dimethylhex-1-enyl]-2-ethyl-2-hydroxy-3,5-dimethyltetrahydro-4H-pyran-4-one with control of the 2S and 3R stereocentres. The NMR spectroscopic data and optical rotation obtained for synthetic (2S,3R,5R,6S)-6-[(1E,3R)-1,3-dimethylhex-1-enyl]-2-ethyl-2-hydroxy-3,5-dimethyltetrahydro-4H-pyran-4-one were consistent with those reported for the hemiacetal isolated from Siphonaria australis, and thus, prove the absolute and relative configuration of the natural product.