Synthetic studies on (2R,4'R,8'R)-alpha-tocopherol. Facile syntheses of optically active, saturated, acyclic isoprenoids via stereospecific [3,3]sigmatropic rearrangements

Core-Labeling (Radio) Synthesis of Phenols

We report a method that enables the fast incorporation of carbon isotopes into the ipso carbon of phenols. Our approach relies on the synthesis of a 1,5-dibromo-1,4-pentadiene precursor, which upon lithium-halogen exchange followed by treatment with carbonate esters results in a formal [5 + 1] cyclization to form the phenol product. Using this strategy, we have prepared 12 1-13C-labeled phenols, show proof-of-concept for the labeling of phenols with carbon-14, and demonstrate phenol synthesis directly from cyclotron-produced [11C]CO2.

Catalytic, Transition-Metal-Free Semireduction of Propiolamide Derivatives: Scope and Mechanistic Investigation

We report a transition-metal-free trans-selective semireduction of alkynes with pinacolborane and catalytic potassium tert-butoxide. A variety of 3-substituted primary and secondary propiolamides, including an analog of FK866, a potent nicotinamide mononucleotide adenyltransferase (NMNAT) inhibitor, are reduced to the corresponding (E)-3-substituted acrylamide derivatives in up to 99% yield with >99:1 E/Z selectivity. Mechanistic studies suggest that an activated Lewis acid-base complex transfers a hydride to the α-carbon followed by rapid protonation in a trans fashion.

Prostaglandin Total Synthesis Enabled by the Organocatalytic Dimerization of Succinaldehyde

Prostaglandins have been attractive targets in total synthesis for over 50 years, resulting in the development of new synthetic strategies and methodologies that have served the broader chemical community. However, these molecules are not just of academic interest, a number of prostaglandin analogues are used in the clinic, and some are even on the WHO list of essential medicines. In this personal account, we describe our own approach to the family of prostaglandins, which centers around the synthesis of a key enal intermediate, formed from the l-proline catalysed dimerization of succinaldehyde. We highlight the discovery and further optimization of this key reaction, its scale up, and subsequent application to a range of prostaglandins.

Synthesis of Sialyl LewisX Glycomimetics Bearing a Bicyclic 3- O,4- C-Fused Galactopyranoside Scaffold

Reported herein is the synthesis of sialyl Lewis^X analogues bearing a trans-bicyclo[4.4.0] dioxadecane-modified 3- O,4- C-fused galactopyranoside scaffold that locks the carboxylate pharmacophore in either the axial or equatorial position. This novel series of bicyclic galactopyranosides are prepared through a stereocontrolled intramolecular cyclization reaction that has been evaluated both experimentally and by density functional theory calculations. The cyclization precursors are obtained from β-d-galactose pentaacetate in a nine-step sequence featuring a highly diastereoselective equatorial alkynylation and Cu(I) catalyzed formation of the acetylenic α-ketoester moiety. Preliminary biological evaluations indicate improved activity as P-selectin antagonists for the axially configured analogues as compared to their equatorial counterparts.

Synthesis of Alfaprostol and PGF2α through 1,4-Addition of an Alkyne to an Enal Intermediate as the Key Step

The veterinary drug Alfaprostol and prostaglandin PGF_2α have been synthesized in just nine steps. The strategy involved the conjugate addition of an alkyne to a bicyclic enal, available in three steps by a proline-catalyzed aldol reaction of succinaldehyde. In the case of Alfaprostol, this resulted in the shortest synthesis reported to date. For PGF_2α, this approach improved our previous route by making the 1,4-addition and ozonolysis more operationally simple.

Highly stereocontrolled total synthesis of β-D-mannosyl phosphomycoketide: a natural product from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

β-D-mannosyl phosphomycoketide (C32-MPM), a naturally occurring glycolipid found in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, acts as a potent antigen to activate T-cells upon presentation by CD1c protein. The lipid portion of C32-MPM contains a C32-mycoketide, consisting of a saturated oligoisoprenoid chain with five chiral methyl branches. Here we develop several stereocontrolled approaches to assemble the oligoisoprenoid chain with high stereopurity (>96%) using Julia-Kocienski olefinations followed by diimide reduction. By careful choice of olefination sites, we could derive all chirality from a single commercial compound, methyl (2S)-3-hydroxy-2-methylpropionate (>99% ee). Our approach is the first highly stereocontrolled method to prepare C32-MPM molecule with >96% stereopurity from a single >99% ee starting material. We anticipate that our methods will facilitate the highly stereocontrolled synthesis of a variety of other natural products containing chiral oligoisoprenoid-like chains, including vitamins, phytol, insect pheromones, and archaeal lipids.

Enantioselective Heck arylations of acyclic alkenyl alcohols using a redox-relay strategy

Progress in the development of asymmetric Heck couplings of arenes and acyclic olefins has been limited by a tenuous understanding of the factors that dictate selectivity in migratory insertion and β-hydride elimination. On the basis of key mechanistic insight recently garnered in the exploration of selective Heck reactions, we report here an enantioselective variant that delivers β-, γ-, or δ-aryl carbonyl products from acyclic alkenol substrates. The catalyst system imparts notable regioselectivity during migratory insertion and promotes the migration of the alkene's unsaturation toward the alcohol to ultimately form the ketone product. The reaction uses aryldiazonium salts as the arene source, yields enantiomeric products from opposite starting alkene configurations, and uses a readily accessible ligand. The racemic nature of the alkenol substrate does not bias the enantioselection.

A concise and modular synthesis of pyranicin

A modular, 13-step synthesis of the tetrahydropyran-containing annonaceous acetogenin pyranicin is reported. Key features are the use of an Achmatowicz oxidation-Kishi reduction sequence for the assembly of a pyranone from a furan and the application of Fu's alkyl-alkyl Suzuki coupling for subunit union.

Toward the synthesis of spirastrellolide B: a synthesis of the C1-C23 subunit

A synthesis of the C1-C23 subunit of spirastrellolide B is described. The synthesis features two applications of a Kulinkovich-cyclopropanol ring-opening strategy for the coupling of esters with olefins to produce ketones.

A unified synthetic approach to polyketides having both skeletal and stereochemical diversity

An efficient systematic approach to the diversity-oriented synthesis of polyketides has been developed to provide both skeletal and stereochemical diversity. Each synthetic intermediate is also a desired polyketide fragment and no protecting group manipulations are required. A first-generation synthesis provides a 74-membered polyketide library comprising six different skeletal classes, each in one to five steps from propargylic alcohol precursors. A study of epoxyol opening reactions revealed unusual reactivity trends based on epoxide configuration.

Synthesis of Vitamin E

Vitamin E compounds are biologically essential fat-soluble antioxidants derived from 6-chromanol. This chapter covers the representative literature on the preparation of various stereoisomeric forms and homologues of tocopherols and tocotrienols, and of respective starting materials and intermediates. The industrially most relevant (all-rac)-alpha-tocopherol is generally built up by coupling of arenes with aliphatic precursors. For the synthesis of optically active vitamin E components, various strategies are compiled. In approaches to chiral chroman and side chain building blocks, a broad variety of methods from the repertoire of asymmetric synthesis were applied, that is optical resolution and use of chiral pool starting materials and chiral auxiliaries in stoichiometric as well as catalytic amounts, including catalysis by metal complexes, microorganisms, and enzymes. Most efforts were directed to (2R,4'R,8'R)-alpha-tocopherol due to its prominent biological activity. Syntheses of different stereoisomers (and mixtures thereof) and (beta-, gamma-, delta-) homologues of tocopherols and tocotrienols, as well as methods for their interconversion, are also described.

Nestmate recognition cues in the honey bee: differential importance of cuticular alkanes and alkenes

In social insects, recognition of nestmates from aliens is based on olfactory cues, and many studies have demonstrated that such cues are contained within the lipid layer covering the insect cuticle. These lipids are usually a complex mixture of tens of compounds in which aliphatic hydrocarbons are generally the major components. The experiments described here tested whether artificial changes in the cuticular profile through supplementation of naturally occurring alkanes and alkenes in honeybees affect the behaviour of nestmate guards. Compounds were applied to live foragers in microgram quantities and the bees returned to their hive entrance where the behaviour of the guard bees was observed. In this fashion we compared the effect of single alkenes with that of single alkanes; the effect of mixtures of alkenes versus that of mixtures of alkanes and the whole alkane fraction separated from the cuticular lipids versus the alkene fraction. With only one exception (the comparison between n-C(19) and (Z)9-C(19)), in all the experiments bees treated with alkenes were attacked more intensively than bees treated with alkanes. This leads us to conclude that modification of the natural chemical profile with the two different classes of compounds has a different effect on acceptance and suggests that this may correspond to a differential importance in the recognition signature.

Ultrasound-promoted alkynylation of ethynylbenzene to ketones under solvent-free condition

This paper described alkynylation of ethynylbenzene to ketones catalyzed by potassium tert-butoxide under solvent-free conditions in the presence of ultrasound irradiation.

Stereocontrol of 1,5-related stereocentres using an intermediate silyl group—the diastereoselectivity of nucleophilic attack on a double bond adjacent to a stereogenic centre carrying a silyl group

R-5-Methylcyclohex-2-enone 1 reacts successively with the phenyldimethylsilylzincate reagent and acetaldehyde to give with regiocontrol the aldols 7, dehydration of which creates the E-exocyclic double bond of the alpha,beta-unsaturated ketone 2. Conjugate addition of the ethylcuprate reagent to this compound takes place with high (96:4) selectivity in favour of the R stereoisomer 12, hydrolysis of which gives (2R,3R,5S,2'R)-2-(but-2'-yl)-3-dimethyl(phenyl)silyl-5-methylcyclohexanone 3. The oxime acetate of this ketone undergoes fragmentation in the presence of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate to give 3R,7R,5E-3,7-dimethylnon-5-enonitrile 4, in which an open-chain 1,5-stereochemical relationship is set up with a high level of stereocontrol. A similar sequence adding 4-methylpentylcuprate to the enone 2, and fragmentation gives 3R,7R,5E-3,7,11-trimethyldodec-5-enonitrile 20. Reduction and hydrogenation of this nitrile gives 3R,7R-3,7,11-trimethyldodecanal 22, which can be converted into phytol 25. The ketoaldehyde 29 reacts with samarium iodide to give only the alcohol 30, in which the radical anion has attacked from the top surface just like the cuprate reagents in their reactions with the ketone 2.

Stereocontrolled total synthesis of (-)-ebelactone A

[structure: see text] The highly stereocontrolled hydroboration of an alkene, a subsequent Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction, a silylcupration on a nonterminal acetylene, and an iododesilylation were the key steps in a convergent total synthesis of (-)-ebelactone A.

A convenient and asymmetric protocol for the synthesis of natural products containing chiral alkyl chains via Zr-catalyzed asymmetric carboalumination of alkenes. Synthesis of phytol and vitamins E and K

[reaction: see text]. A convenient and asymmetric protocol for the synthesis of chiral oligoisoprenoids is described. Typically, a C14 vitamin E side chain 5 was synthesized in 47% yield over four steps. Isomeric purity of 5 was upgraded to >99% R at C-2 and 97% R at C-6 by the statistical formation of stereoisomeric p-phenylenebisurethanes and their diastereomeric separation. In addition, phytol and vitamin K were synthesized in 21% and 28% overall yields, respectively, over five steps from 1.