Asymmetric Heck cyclization route to indolizidine and azaazulene alkaloids: synthesis of (+)-5-epiindolizidine 167B and indolizidine 223AB

Alkylation of N,N-Dibenzylaminoacetonitrile: From Five- to Seven-Membered Nitrogen-Containing Heterocyclic Systems

The syntheses of several alkaloids and nitrogen-containing compounds including N-Boc-coniine (14b), pyrrolizidine (1), δ-coniceine (2), and pyrrolo[1,2a]azepine (3) are described. New C-C bonds in the α position relative to the nitrogen atom were formed by the alkylation of metalated α-aminonitriles 4 and 6a-c with alkyl iodides possessing the requisite size and functionality. In all of the reported cases, the pyrrolidine ring was formed in the aqueous medium through a favorable 5-exo-tet process involving a primary or a secondary amino group and a terminal δ-leaving group. Conversely, the azepane ring was efficiently formed in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), as the preferred aprotic solvent, through an unreported 7-exo-tet cyclization process involving a more nucleophilic sodium amide and a terminal mesylate borne by a saturated six carbon chain unit. In this way, we successfully synthesized pyrrolo[1,2a]azepane 3 and 2-propyl-azepane 14c in good yields from inexpensive and readily available materials without tedious separation methods.

Simple Indolizidine and Quinolizidine Alkaloids

This review of simple indolizidine and quinolizidine alkaloids (i.e., those in which the parent bicyclic systems are in general not embedded in polycyclic arrays) is an update of the previous coverage in Volume 55 of this series (2001). The present survey covers the literature from mid-1999 to the end of 2013; and in addition to aspects of the isolation, characterization, and biological activity of the alkaloids, much emphasis is placed on their total synthesis. A brief introduction to the topic is followed by an overview of relevant alkaloids from fungal and microbial sources, among them slaframine, cyclizidine, Steptomyces metabolites, and the pantocins. The important iminosugar alkaloids lentiginosine, steviamine, swainsonine, castanospermine, and related hydroxyindolizidines are dealt with in the subsequent section. The fourth and fifth sections cover metabolites from terrestrial plants. Pertinent plant alkaloids bearing alkyl, functionalized alkyl or alkenyl substituents include dendroprimine, anibamine, simple alkaloids belonging to the genera Prosopis, Elaeocarpus, Lycopodium, and Poranthera, and bicyclic alkaloids of the lupin family. Plant alkaloids bearing aryl or heteroaryl substituents include ipalbidine and analogs, secophenanthroindolizidine and secophenanthroquinolizidine alkaloids (among them septicine, julandine, and analogs), ficuseptine, lasubines, and other simple quinolizidines of the Lythraceae, the simple furyl-substituted Nuphar alkaloids, and a mixed quinolizidine-quinazoline alkaloid. The penultimate section of the review deals with the sizable group of simple indolizidine and quinolizidine alkaloids isolated from, or detected in, ants, mites, and terrestrial amphibians, and includes an overview of the "dietary hypothesis" for the origin of the amphibian metabolites. The final section surveys relevant alkaloids from marine sources, and includes clathryimines and analogs, stellettamides, the clavepictines and pictamine, and bis(quinolizidine) alkaloids.

Direct metal-catalyzed regioselective functionalization of enamides

Enamides are stable enamine surrogates and provide key intermediates for the synthesis of small but complex nitrogen-containing compounds. Metal-catalyzed regioselective functionalization of enamides provides a rapid method to synthesize useful nitrogen containing heterocycles. This review discloses the recent progress made in the development of the C-H functionalization of enamides involving efficient and atom-economical routes. Syntheses of different heterocycles are classified based on the site reactivity of enamides and key mechanistic insights are given for each transformation.

Enamides and enesulfonamides as nucleophiles: formation of complex ring systems through a platinum(II)-catalyzed addition/Friedel-Crafts pathway

Cyclic enamine derivatives (enesulfonamides and enamides) tethered to an 1-arylalkynyl fragment undergo a platinum(II)-catalyzed tandem alkyne addition/Friedel-Crafts ring closure to form nitrogen-containing polycyclic structures. Regioselectivity in the initial addition of the enesulfonamide or enamide nucleophile to the platinum(II)-alkyne complex is important. Electron-rich arenes and heterocycles led to the formation of products resulting from an initial 6-endo cyclization. Twenty-three examples of this process are presented.

A convenient allylsilane-N-acyliminium route toward indolizidine and quinolizidine alkaloids

This review relates all the results that we obtained in the field of the total synthesis of indolizidine and quinolizidine alkaloids using a strategy of the addition of an allylsilane on an N-acyliminium ion. In this paper, we describe the synthesis of racemic indolizidine 167B and chiral indolizidines: (-)-indolizidines 167B, 195B, 223AB, (+)-monomorine, (-)-(3R,5S,8aS)-3-butyl-5-propylindolizidine and (-)-dendroprimine. Next, we relate the synthesis that we have developed in the quinolizidines field: (±)-myrtine and epimyrtine, (±)-lasubines I and II and chiral quinolizidines: (+)-myrtine, (-)-epimyrtine, (-)-lasubines I and II and (+)-subcosine II.

Isocyanate acting as a carbonyl precursor: pyridyl group-assisted formation of 4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-ones from ketimines and isocyanates

By the reactions of ketimines bearing a pyridyl or a picolyl group on a nitrogen atom of the imine moiety with tosylisocyanate, 4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-one derivatives could be obtained in quantitative yields. In these reactions, tosylisocyanate acts as a carbonyl precursor. The pyridyl or picolyl group is a key functional group because it is not only the constituent structure of the 4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-one framework but also the promoter of the formation of a ketene intermediate.

A general synthetic route to 1-azabicyclo[m.n.0]alkenes via cyclisation based on α-sulfinyl carbanions

The intramolecular nucleophilic addition of alpha-sulfinyl carbanions derived from the corresponding sufinyl lactams afforded 1-azabicyclo[m.n.0]alkenes in good yields.