Divergent Synthesis of Complex Polyketide-Like Macrolides from a Simple Polyol Fragment

Synthesis of Diverse 11- and 12-Membered Macrolactones from a Common Linear Substrate Using a Single Biocatalyst

The diversification of late stage synthetic intermediates provides significant advantages in efficiency in comparison to conventional linear approaches. Despite these advantages, accessing varying ring scaffolds and functional group patterns from a common intermediate poses considerable challenges using existing methods. The combination of regiodivergent nickel-catalyzed C-C couplings and site-selective biocatalytic C-H oxidations using the cytochrome P450 enzyme PikC addresses this problem by enabling a single late-stage linear intermediate to be converted to macrolactones of differing ring size and with diverse patterns of oxidation. The approach is made possible by a novel strategy for site-selective biocatalytic oxidation using a single biocatalyst, with site selectivity being governed by a temporarily installed directing group. Site selectivities of C-H oxidation by this directed approach can overcome positional bias due to C-H bond strength, acidity, inductive influences, steric accessibility, or immediate proximity to the directing group, thus providing complementarity to existing approaches.

A modular phosphate tether-mediated divergent strategy to complex polyols

An efficient and divergent synthesis of polyol subunits utilizing a phosphate tether-mediated, one-pot, sequential RCM/CM/reduction process is reported. A modular, 3-component coupling strategy has been developed, in which, simple “order of addition” of a pair of olefinic-alcohol components to a pseudo-C₂-symmetric phosphoryl chloride, coupled with the RCM/CM/reduction protocol, yields five polyol fragments. Each of the product polyols bears a central 1,3-anti-diol subunit with differential olefinic geometries at the periphery.

Catalyst-directed diastereo- and site-selectivity in successive nucleophilic and electrophilic allylations of chiral 1,3-diols: protecting-group-free synthesis of substituted pyrans

The iridium-catalyzed, protecting group-free synthesis of 4-hydroxy-2,6-cis- or trans-pyrans through successive nucleophilic and electrophilic allylations of chiral 1,3-diols occurs with complete levels of catalyst-directed diastereoselectivity in the absence of protecting groups, premetallated reagents, or discrete alcohol-to-aldehyde redox reactions.

Toward more "ideal" polyketide natural product synthesis: a step-economical synthesis of zincophorin methyl ester

A highly efficient and step-economical synthesis of zincophorin methyl ester has been achieved. The unprecedented step economy of this zincophorin synthesis is principally due to an application of the tandem silylformylation-crotylsilylation/Tamao oxidation-diastereoselective tautomerization reaction, which achieves in a single step what would typically require a significant multistep sequence.

Explorations of stemona alkaloid-inspired analogues: skeletal modification and functional group diversification

A tandem Diels-Alder/Schmidt reaction provided an efficient route for the exploration of unnatural Stemona alkaloid analogues. Thus, a series of tricyclic scaffolds were efficiently prepared and then elaborated into seven sets of functionalized analogues. These derivatives incorporated appended heterocycles, such as indoles and quinolines, or other diversity-incorporating moieties such as carbamates and amines. Both the scaffold-generation sequence and the diversification steps could be manipulated to provide regio- and diastereochemically pure products.

An oligomer-based approach to skeletal diversity in small-molecule synthesis

Access to small molecules of widely varying molecular shapes has been identified as an enabling step in the discovery of biologically active materials. In this communication we introduce an approach to the systematic development of architecturally distinct chemical compounds based upon the assembly of reactive monomers into linear oligomers, each of which encodes a unique molecular framework under a common set of reaction conditions. Certain products of the initial chemical transformation (Ru-catalyzed metathesis reaction) encode additional skeletons upon treatment with a second common set of reagents (Diels-Alder dienophiles). Application of this oligomerization approach has led to the discovery of a previously unreported tandem ene-yne-yne metathesis-6pi-electrocyclization-1,5-hydride migration that converts a linear substrate into a complex tricyclic 1,3-diene in a single step. Thus, the reported strategy might serve not only as a generator of skeletally diverse small molecules but also as a discovery platform for the identification of novel chemical transformations.

Skeletal Diversity through Radical Cyclization of Tetrahydropyridine Scaffolds

Suitably functionalized tetrahydropyridines (methyl pipecolates) have been used as conformationally biased templates for radical cyclizations to access benzoisoquinuclidines and linearly fused indenopiperidines. Variation of skeletal types is determined by location of a radical-initiating element.