Practical total syntheses of epiquinamide enantiomers

Nickel-Catalyzed Enantioselective Decarboxylative Acylation: Rapid, Modular Access to α-Amino Ketones

A new approach to the enantiocontrolled synthesis of α-amino ketone derivatives is disclosed by employing a decarboxylative acylation strategy. Thus, when an acyl chloride and an α-amido-containing redox-active ester are exposed to a nickel catalyst, chiral ligand, and metal reductant, α-amido ketones are produced in good yield and high ee. The reaction exhibits broad substrate scope, can be easily scaled up, and is applied to dramatically simplify the synthesis of several known structures.

Alkylative Ring-Opening of Bicyclic Aziridinium Ion and Its Application for Alkaloid Synthesis

Alkylative ring-opening of bicyclic aziridinium ion generated from 4-hydroxybutylaziridine with organocopper reagent was achieved successfully to afford 2-alkylsubstituted piperidine in high or moderate yield. This method allowed carbon-carbon bond formation of "non-activated" aziridine via aziridinium ion ring-opening in regio- and stereo-selective manner for the first time. This newly developed reaction was applied for an efficient synthesis of alkaloid with the representative example of conine and epiquinamide.

Decarboxylative Annulation of α-Amino Acids with γ-Nitroaldehydes

Indolizidine and quinolizidine derivatives are readily assembled from proline or pipecolic acid and γ-nitroaldehydes by means of a decarboxylative annulation process. These reactions are promoted by simple acetic acid and involve azomethine ylides as reactive intermediates. The method was applied to the synthesis of an epiquinamide analog.

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.

(+)-Laburnamine, a natural selective ligand and partial agonist for the α4β2 nicotinic receptor subtype

(+)-Laburnamine (1), a rare alkaloid extracted from Laburnum anagyroides seeds (∼4 mg from 1 kg), was shown to bind with high affinity (Ki, 293 nM) to the α4β2 nicotinic receptor subtype, which is, respectively, 126 and 136 times higher than to the α3β4 (Ki 37 μM) and α7 subtypes (Ki 40 μM). When its ability to release [(3)H]-dopamine from striatal slices was tested in a functional assay, compound 1 behaved as a partial agonist with an EC50 of 5.8 μM and an Emax that was 43% that of nicotine. When incubated with nicotine in the same assay, 1 prevented a maximal effect from being reached.

A General, Enantioselective Synthesis of 1-Azabicyclo[m.n.0]alkane Ring Systems

In this Letter, we describe a novel approach for the general and enantioselective synthesis of a diverse array of small to large 1-azabicyclo[m.n.0]alkyl ring systems with an embedded olefin handle for further functionalization. The stereochemistry is established via a highly diastereoselective indium-mediated allylation of an Ellman sulfinimine in greater than 9:1 dr., which is readily separable by column chromatography to afford a single diastereomer. This methodology allows for the rapid preparation of 1-azabicyclo[m.n.0]alkane ring systems that are not readily accessible through any other chemistry in excellent overall yields and, for many systems, the only enantioselective preparation reported to date.

Enantioselective, protecting group-free synthesis of 1S-ethyl-4-substituted quinolizidines

A practical enantioselective protecting group-free four-step route to the key quinolizidinone 6 from phenylglycinol-derived bicyclic lactam 1 is reported. The Grignard addition reaction to 6 takes place stereoselectively to give 1-ethyl-4-substituted quinolizidines 4-epi-207I and 7-9. Following a similar synthetic sequence, 9a-epi-6 is also accessed. However, the addition of Grignard reagents to 9a-epi-6 proceeds in a non-stereoselective manner. In order to gain insight into the different stereochemical outcome in the two series, theoretical calculations on the iminium salts A and B have been performed. The study concludes that the addition of the hydride, which is the step that determines the configuration of the final products, occurs in a stereoelectronic controlled manner. The theoretical study is in agreement with the experimental results.

N-(5-Bromo-pyridin-2-yl)acetamide

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C₇H₇BrN₂O, contains two mol­ecules, in one of which the methyl H atoms are disorderd over two orientations in a 0.57 (3):0.43 (3) ratio. The dihedral angles between the pyridine rings and the acetamide groups are 7.27 (11) and 8.46 (11)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds generating bifurcated R₂¹(5) ring motifs, which in turn lead to [110] chains.

Epiquinamide: a poison that wasn't from a frog that was

In 2003, we reported the isolation, structure elucidation, and pharmacology of epiquinamide (1), a novel alkaloid isolated from an Ecuadoran poison frog, Epipedobates tricolor. Since then, several groups, including ours, have undertaken synthetic efforts to produce this compound, which appeared initially to be a novel, beta2-selective nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist. Based on prior chiral GC analysis of synthetic and natural samples, the absolute structure of this alkaloid was established as (1S,9aS)-1-acetamidoquinolizidine. We have synthesized the (1R*,9aS*)-isomer (epi-epiquinamide) using an iminium ion nitroaldol reaction as the key step. We have also synthesized ent-1 semisynthetically from (-)-lupinine. Synthetic epiquinamide is inactive at nicotinic receptors, in accord with recently published reports. We have determined that the activity initially reported is due to cross-contamination from co-occurring epibatidine in the isolated material.

Stereospecific total synthesis of somocystinamide A

The first total synthesis of somocystinamide A, a disulfide dimer with extremely labile enamide functional groups, was accomplished in a concise and stereospecific manner. Somocystinamide A is reported to possess exceptionally potent antiangiogenic and tumoricidal activities. The current work should enable further pharmacological investigation of this important natural product.

Design and synthesis of all diastereomers of cyclic pseudo-dipeptides as mimics of cyclic CXCR4 pentapeptide antagonists

The four diastereomers of 2,5-bis[(3-guanidino)propyl]-1-[3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionyl]-7-(2-naphthylacetyl)-1,4,7-triazacycloundec-9-en-3-one (-) and of 2,5-bis[(3-guanidino)propyl]-1-(4-hydroxyphenylacetyl)-7-(2-naphthylacetyl)-1,4,7-triazacycloundec-9-en-3-one (-) were synthesized by a divergent methodology from l- and D-glutamic acids. The 11-membered ring core was made by ring closing metathesis of linear bis(allylamines), and the guanidyl functions were introduced by a simultaneous double Mitsunobu reaction using bis(Boc)guanidine. These compounds were designed to mimic cyclic pentapeptide FC131 (c[Gly-D-Tyr-Arg-Arg-Nal]).