Synthesis of bis-2,5-linked tetrahydrofurans via iodoetherification

Tethered Silanoxyiodination of Alkenes

We present the first examples of tethered silanoxyiodination reactions of allylic alcohols. The products are useful silanediol organoiodide synthons and are formed with high regioselectivity and diastereocontrol. The reaction is scalable greater than 10-fold without loss of yield or selectivity. Furthermore, the products are starting materials for further transformations, including deiodination, C-N bond installation, epoxide synthesis, and desilylation. DFT calculations provide a basis for understanding the exquisite 6-endo selectivity of this silanoxyiodination reaction and show that the observed products are both kinetically and thermodynamically preferred.

Interplay of cascade oxidative cyclization and hydride shifts in the synthesis of the ABC spiroketal ring system of pectenotoxin-4

Concepts: The formation of stereochemically defined bis-THF units through a double cyclization and a hydride-shift-initiated route to spiroketals is described (see scheme; Xc=chiral auxiliary). The resulting sequence has been used in a synthesis of the C1-16 fragment of the naturally occurring antitumor agent pectenotoxin-4.

Isolation of a bis-iodurated tetra-THF as a trace product from the oxidation of squalene with RuO₄ and its double ring expansion to a novel bis-THF-bis-THP compound

A novel bis-iodurated polyether compound, based on an unprecedented tetra-THF backbone, has been isolated as a trace by-product of the oxidation of squalene with the catalytic system RuO₂(cat.)/NaIO₄. The double erythro configuration of the central portion of the molecule furnishes the first indirect support of the previously postulated pathway operating in the oxidative pentacyclization of the isoprenoid substrate. A bidirectional double oxidative bis-cyclization is invoked to explain the formation of this compound. The isolated substance was successfully subjected to a double rearrangement-ring expansion to give a novel bis-THF-bis-THP compound.

Vicinal tetrahydrofuranyl substitution of alkyl chains. Tetra-, penta-, and hexafunctionalized arrays

The tetrakis (tetrahydrofuranyl) dialdehydes 14 and 19 are accessible by oxidative cleavage of extensively substituted cyclohexenes, which have in turn been assembled in a stereocontrolled manner. Reaction of 14 with an excess of the Normant reagent followed by ring closure resulted in conversion to the hexafunctionalized polyether 15. Allylindation of the same dialdehyde gave rise to lactol 16, a reactivity pattern that was essentially duplicated when 19 was treated with the Normant reagent. Attempts to add allylmagnesium bromide to 19 resulted in operation of a Tishchenko reaction with formation of lactone 23. By means of X-ray diffraction analysis, it was possible to ascertain the conformation adopted by 20 and 23 in the solid state. In addition, 15 was shown to populate a conformation in which the oxygen are very predominantly in gauche arrangements, this structural preorganization taking place in the absence of any metal ions.