Synthetic Studies on Taxol: Highly Stereoselective Construction of the Taxol C-Ring via SN2‘ Reduction of an Allylic Phosphonium Salt

Strategies and Lessons Learned from Total Synthesis of Taxol

Taxol (paclitaxel), the most well-known taxane diterpenoid, is the best-selling natural-source anticancer drug ever produced and one of the most common prescriptions in the treatment of breast, lung, and ovarian cancers, saving countless lives around the world. Structurally, Taxol possesses a highly oxygenated [6-8-6-4] core bearing 11 stereocenters, seven of which are contiguous chiral centers. Moreover, the extremely strained bicyclo[5.3.1] undecane ring system with a bridgehead double bond is a unique structural feature. All these features make Taxol a highly challenging synthetic target. Tremendous synthetic efforts from more than 60 research groups around the world have already culminated in ten total syntheses and three formal syntheses, as well as more than 60 synthetic model studies of Taxol. This review is intended to provide a long-overdue appraisal of the great achievements in the total syntheses of Taxol reported in the last few decades. In doing so, we summarize the development of synthesis toward Taxol from 1994 to 2022, including the evolution of synthetic strategy for accessing this complex molecular scaffold and key lessons learned from such endeavors. Finally, we briefly discuss the future of the research in this area.

Enantiospecific Total Synthesis and Absolute Configuration Assignment of Chabrolobenzoquinone H

Chabrolobenzoquinone H (1), a meroditerpene metabolite with cytotoxic activity, is synthesized via a stereoselective Julia-Kocienski olefination between a chiral pool derived aliphatic PT-sulfone and a benzoquinone aldehyde partner. The latter was obtained via consecutive chain extension steps involving a Stille coupling and a stereospecific olefin cross-metathesis reaction followed by malonic ester synthesis and a Krapcho decarboxylation. Furthermore, this total synthesis securely determined the absolute configuration of the targeted natural product.

Biphilic Organophosphorus Catalysis: Regioselective Reductive Transposition of Allylic Bromides via P(III)/P(V) Redox Cycling

We report that a regioselective reductive transposition of primary allylic bromides is catalyzed by a biphilic organophosphorus (phosphetane) catalyst. Spectroscopic evidence supports the formation of a pentacoordinate (σ(5)-P) hydridophosphorane as a key reactive intermediate. Kinetics experiments and computational modeling are consistent with a unimolecular decomposition of the σ(5)-P hydridophosphorane via a concerted cyclic transition structure that delivers the observed allylic transposition and completes a novel P(III)/P(V) redox catalytic cycle. These results broaden the growing repertoire of reactions catalyzed within the P(III)/P(V) redox couple and suggest additional opportunities for organophosphorus catalysis in a biphilic mode.