The Chemical Synthesis and Applications of Tropane Alkaloids

Tropanes are an important class of alkaloid natural products that are found in plants all over the world. These compounds can exhibit significant biological activity and are among the oldest known medicines. In the early 19th century, tropanes were isolated, characterized, and synthesized by notable chemical researchers. Their significant biological activities have inspired tremendous research efforts toward their synthesis and the elucidation of their pharmacological activity both in academia and in industry. In this chapter, which addresses the developments in this field since 1994, the focus is on the synthesis of these compounds, and several examples of sophisticated synthetic protocols involving both asymmetric and catalytic approaches are described. In addition, the structures of more than 100 new alkaloids are included as well as the applications and pharmacological properties of some tropane alkaloids.

Efficient Synthesis of Fully Substituted Pyrrolidine-Fused 3-Spirooxindoles via 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition of Aziridine and 3-Ylideneoxindole

Drug-like spirocyclic scaffolds have been prepared by fusing fully functionalized pyrrolidine with oxindoles in an approach based on 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. Reaction between aziridine and 3-ylideneoxindole generated diverse spirooxindole-pyrrolidines in good yield (up to 95%) with high diastereoselectivity (up to >20:1). The reaction also proceeded smoothly with several other synthetically useful activated trisubstituted olefins. The mild reaction conditions, short reaction times, and high tolerance for various substitutions make this approach attractive for constructing pharmacologically interesting spiro-architectures.

Lewis acid-catalyzed [3 + 2]cyclo-addition of alkynes with N-tosyl-aziridines via carbon-carbon bond cleavage: synthesis of highly substituted 3-pyrrolines

A novel, efficient, and highly regioselective Lewis acid-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition of alkynes with azomethine ylides, which are easily obtained from N-tosylaziridines via C-C bond heterolysis at room temperature was developed. Moderate enantioselectivity (70% ee) can be achieved by the application of the commercially available chiral Pybox 7 as the ligand.