Organolithium-mediated conversion of beta-alkoxy aziridines into allylic sulfonamides: effect of the N-sulfonyl group and a formal synthesis of (+/-)-perhydrohistrionicotoxin

Divergent Nine-Step Syntheses of Perhydrohistrionicotoxin Analogs and Their Inhibition Activity Toward Chicken α4β2-Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Histrionicotoxin (HTX) alkaloids, which are isolated from Colombian poison dart frogs, are analgesic neurotoxins that modulate nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) as antagonists. Perhydrohistrionicotoxin (pHTX) is the potent synthetic analogue of HTX and possesses a 1-azaspiro[5.5]undecane skeleton common to the HTX family. Here, we show for the first time the divergent nine-step synthesis of pHTX and its three stereoisomers from the known aldehyde through a one-step construction of the 1-azaspiro[5.5]undecane framework from a linear amino ynone substrate. Surprisingly, some pHTX diastereomers exhibited antagonistic activities on the chicken α4β2-neuronal nAChRs that were more potent than pHTX.

Stereoselective aziridination of cyclic allylic alcohols using chloramine-T

The stereoselective aziridination of a range of cyclic allylic alcohols using two different chloramine salts (4-MeC(6)H(4)SO(2)NClNa, TsNClNa and t-BuSO(2)NClNa, BusNClNa) has been explored. The stereoselectivity of these reactions was highly dependent on the structure of the allylic alcohol and the chloramine salt. Generally, mixtures of cis- and trans-hydroxy aziridines were obtained, in which the major diastereomer was the cis-hydroxy aziridine, whilst complete cis-diastereoselectivity was observed in the aziridination of 1,3-disubstituted allylic alcohols. In each case studied, aziridination using BusNClNa gave higher cis-stereoselectivity than that observed for the same reaction using TsNClNa. Unexpectedly, application of the aziridination conditions to 1-substituted cyclopen-2-en-1-ols did not generate the aziridines. Instead, epoxy sulfonamides were obtained.