Enantioselective synthesis of (+)-kjellmanianone

Copper(I)-Catalyzed Kinetic Resolution of exo-3-Oxodicyclopentadienes and endo-3-Oxodicyclopentadiene

The first example of highly efficient kinetic resolution of exo-3-oxodicyclopentadienes and endo-3-oxodicyclopentadiene has been developed by means of Cu(I)-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylide. Compared with the existing methodologies for those synthetically important optically active convex molecules, the current protocol provides an alternative but more practical approach from the readily available racemic starting materials, which is free from the repetitive reduction/oxidation steps in the enzymatic resolution or the indispensable stoichiometric amount of chirality-induction reagents.

Natural Products among Brown Algae: The Case of Cystoseira schiffneri Hamel (Sargassaceae, Phaeophyceae)

A chemotaxonomic study on the marine brown alga Cystoseira schiffneri collected from the Tunisian marine coast allowed us to identify kjellmanianone (1) and a new isololiolide derivative named schiffnerilolide (2). The structure elucidation and the assignment of relative configurations of the isolated natural products were based on advanced mass spectrometric and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. This outcome suggested a close phylogenetic relationship of C. schiffneri with brown algae belonging to genus Sargassum C. Agardh. Molecular characterization using the nuclear small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) gene (18S) sequence as genetic marker was made. Pigment analysis showed a significant seasonal change of carotenoids, in particular of fucoxanthin and fucoxanthinol. Also galactolipids, the main constituents of the thylakoid membranes, showed remarkable seasonal changes.

A Model Study toward the Concise Synthesis of Bromotyrosine Derived Spiroisoxazoline Natural Products and Analogous Core Structures

A model study of the first non-aromatic ring based approach toward α-hydroxyspiroisoxazolines resembling the bromotyrosine derived natural product and analogous spiroisoxazoline core structures were implemented. The desired molecular architecture was achieved through the multifunctionalization of a key 1,3-diketo spiroisoxazoline. Our strategy could serve as an efficient alternative of previously developed approaches that utilize an aromatic ring oxidation as the essential step to synthesize this class of natural products.

Catalytic enantioselective O-nitrosocarbonyl aldol reaction of β-dicarbonyl compounds

The first example of a Cu-catalyzed asymmetric O-nitrosocarbonyl aldol reaction is described. This novel protocol allows convenient access to highly enantioenriched α-hydroxy-β-ketoesters including the antibacterial natural product kjellmanianone (up to 99% ee). MnO(2) was introduced as a mild efficient oxidant for the in situ generation of nitrosocarbonyl species from hydroxamic acid derivatives.

Continuous-flow enantioselective α-aminoxylation of aldehydes catalyzed by a polystyrene-immobilized hydroxyproline

The application of polystyrene-immobilized proline-based catalysts in packed-bed reactors for the continuous-flow, direct, enantioselective α-aminoxylation of aldehydes is described. The system allows the easy preparation of a series of β-aminoxy alcohols (after a reductive workup) with excellent optical purity and with an effective catalyst loading of ca. 2.5% (four-fold reduction compared to the batch process) working at residence times of ca. 5 min.

Iron-catalyzed aminohydroxylation of olefins

We have discovered that N-sulfonyl oxaziridines react with a broad range of olefins in the presence of iron salts to afford 1,3-oxazolidines. This process provides access to 1,2-aminoalcohols with the opposite sense of regioselectivity produced from the copper-catalyzed oxyamination previously reported by our laboratories. Thus, either regioisomeric form of 1,2-aminoalcohols can easily be obtained from the reaction of oxaziridines with olefins, and the sense of regioselectivity can be controlled by the appropriate choice of inexpensive, nontoxic, first-row transition-metal catalyst.

Expanding the scope of asymmetric electrophilic atom-transfer reactions: titanium- and ruthenium-catalyzed hydroxylation of beta-ketoesters

The enantioselective formation of a quaternary stereogenic center coinciding with a hydroxylation process is a very rare reaction from a homogeneous catalysis point of view. Indeed, to our knowledge, no asymmetric transition-metal-catalyzed direct hydroxylation has been reported before. We describe here our initial study concerning the enantioselective alpha-hydroxylation of various beta-ketoesters catalyzed by Lewis-acidic complexes. Specifically, it was found that the Ti complex [TiCl(2)((R,R)-1-Np-TADDOLato)(MeCN)(2)] affords the hydroxylated products in high yield and enantioselectivities up to 94% enantiomeric excess when using 2-(phenylsulphonyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)oxaziridine as the oxidizing agent. Chiral enantiopure compounds of the latter type have been used previously in stoichiometric asymmetric hydroxylation reactions. We also show that, in a complementary approach with H(2)O(2) as the oxidant, the Ru(II) complex [RuCl(OE(2))((S,S)-PNNP)]PF(6) catalyzes the same type of transformation in a case of substrates showing a very substantial extent of enolization under reaction conditions; being, however, unreactive toward only weakly enolized beta-ketoesters.

Straightforward synthesis of (R)-(-)-kjellmanianone

A direct route to enantiomerically pure (-)-kjellmanianone is reported. The synthesis involves a cerium-catalyzed alpha-hydroxylation and an enzyme-catalyzed procedure to resolve tertiary alcohols at key stages. The intermediate beta-oxo ester was alpha-hydroxylated to give good yields of racemic kjellmanianone. The resolution of the racemic material was achieved by enzymatic saponification, followed by a chemical decarboxylation sequence to give enantiopure (-)-kjellmanianone with 99 % ee. Bromination then afforded the (-)-bromo derivative, whose X-ray structure provided evidence for the R configuration of (-)-kjellmanianone.

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of alpha-aminooxy and alpha-hydroxy ketone using nitrosobenzene

The highly enantioselective and O-selective nitroso aldol reaction of tin enolates 2 and nitrosobenzene (1) has been developed with the use of (R)-BINAP-silver complexes as a catalyst. After the various silver salts were surveyed, the AgOTf and the AgClO4 complex were found to be optimal in the O-selective nitroso aldol reaction in both asymmetric induction (up to 97% ee) and regioselection (O/N = >99/1), affording aminooxy ketone 3. The product 3 can be transformed to alpha-hydroxy ketone 5 without any loss of enantioselectivity. Thus, the method provides an efficient approach to the catalytic enantioselective introduction of oxygen alpha- to the carbonyl group.