A new diastereoselective route to 5-substituted-8-methylindolizidines. Synthesis of indolizidine (−) 209B

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.

Design and synthesis of some biologically interesting natural and unnatural products based on organosulfur and selenium chemistry

Organosulfur and selenium chemistry has provided fertile ground for the discovery of novel synthetic methodology and for the design of bioactive molecules with potential therapeutic applications. Thus, acetylenic sulfones have been employed in novel strategies for the synthesis of nitrogen heterocycles, including several biologically active alkaloids. The conjugate addition of nitrogen nucleophiles containing ester or chloroalkyl substituents to acetylenic sulfones was followed by base-mediated intramolecular alkylation or acylation to afford variously substituted piperidines, pyrrolizidines, indolizidines, quinolizidines, decahydroquinolines, and 4-quinolones. The products include the dendrobatid alkaloids (–)-pumiliotoxin C, indolizidines (–)-167B, 207A, 209B, and 209D, as well as (–)-(ent)-julifloridine, (–)-lasubine II, myrtine, and two recently discovered alkaloids from the medicinal plant Ruta chalepensis , which had not been previously synthesized. Acetylenic sulfones were also incorporated on solid supports and employed in the types of cyclizations mentioned above, as well as for Diels–Alder reactions and a large variety of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. Conjugate additions of tertiary cyclic α-vinyl amines to acetylenic sulfones generated zwitterions that underwent exceptionally facile formal aza-Cope rearrangements to afford ring-expanded macrocyclic amines. An iterative version was developed and used in the synthesis of motuporamine A and B. With respect to organoselenium chemistry, two classes of compounds are described that function as novel mimetics of the selenoenzyme glutathione peroxidase (GPx), which protects cells from oxidative stress caused by the formation of peroxides during aerobic metabolism. They include cyclic seleninates and spirodioxyselenuranes, both of which efficiently catalyze the reduction of peroxides with thiols and are of potential value in the mitigation of oxidative stress. Their aromatic derivatives are generally less effective catalysts, but substituent effects can be used to modulate their activities. The mechanism of their catalytic cycles has been elucidated and Hammett plots indicate that the oxidation of Se(II) to Se(IV) is the rate-determining step for both classes. A methoxy-substituted aromatic spirodioxyselenurane provided the fastest rate for a small-molecule selenium compound that we have observed to date for the reduction of hydrogen peroxide with benzyl thiol.

Facile synthesis of two diastereomeric indolizidines corresponding to the postulated structure of alkaloid 5,9E-259B from a Bufonid toad (Melanophryniscus)

A short synthesis of the postulated structure for indolizidine alkaloid 259B with the hydrogens at C5 and C9 entgegen has been achieved with complete control of stereochemistry at C5. Both diastereoisomers at C8 were obtained, but neither proved to be the natural product. The comparison of the mass and FTIR spectral properties of the synthetic compounds to those of the natural material strongly suggest that the gross structure is correct and that the difference may be a branch in the C5 alkyl side-chain. The GC-retention times of the two synthetic compounds were markedly longer than that of the natural 5,9E-259B.

A convenient new route to piperidines, pyrrolizidines, indolizidines, and quinolizidines by cyclization of acetylenic sulfones with beta and gamma-chloroamines. Enantioselective total synthesis of indolizidines (-)-167B, (-)-209D, (-)-209B, and (-)-207A

The methyl esters of (L)-phenylalanine and (L)-methionine underwent conjugate additions via their free amino groups to 1-(p-toluenesulfonyl)hexyne, followed by intramolecular acylation of the corresponding enamide anions and tautomerization to afford 2-benzyl-5-n-butyl-3-hydroxy-4-(p-toluenesulfonyl)pyrrole and 5-n-butyl-3-hydroxy-2-(2-methylthioethyl)-4-(p-toluenesulfonyl)pyr role, respectively. The conjugate additions of a series of acyclic and cyclic secondary beta- and gamma-chloroamines to acetylenic sulfones proceeded similarly under mild conditions. The resulting adducts were deprotonated with LDA in THF at -78 degrees C, and the resulting sulfone-stabilized carbanions underwent intramolecular alkylation to afford cyclic enamine sulfones. Thus, acyclic gamma-chloroalkyl-benzylamines afforded the corresponding 2- or 2,6-disubstituted piperidines, while 2-(chloromethyl)pyrrolidines, 2-(2-chloroethyl)pyrrolidines, 2-(chloromethyl)piperidines, and 2-(2-chloroethyl)piperidines produced the corresponding 3-substituted pyrrolizidines, 5- or 3-substituted indolizidines, and 4-substituted quinolizidines, respectively. 8-Methyl-5-substituted indolizidines were also prepared from the appropriate methyl-substituted chloroamine precursor. Enantioselective syntheses were achieved by employing chiral chloroamines derived from amino acids or other enantiopure precursors. Further transformations of several of the products provided concise syntheses of four dendrobatid alkaloids. Thus, reduction of (8aS)-5-n-propyl-6-(p-toluenesulfonyl)-delta5,6-indolizidine with sodium cyanoborohydride in trifluoroacetic acid, followed by reductive desulfonylation, afforded (-)-indolizidine 167B. The corresponding 5-n-hexyl derivative similarly produced (-)-indolizidine 209D, while (-)-(8R, 8aS)-8-methyl-5-n-pentyl-6-(p-toluenesulfonyl)-delta5,6-indo lizidine furnished (-)-indolizidine 209B. Finally, the similar reduction and debenzylation of (-)-(8R,8aS)-5-(2-benzyloxyethyl)-8-methyl-6-(p-toluenesulfo nyl)-delta5,6-indolizidine produced the corresponding 5-hydroxyethyl indolizidine. This was subjected to chlorination of the alcohol group with thionyl chloride and substitution with a higher order allyl cuprate reagent to afford (-)-indolizidine 207A.