A computational study of regioselectivity in aluminum hydride ring-opening of cis- and trans-4-t-butyl and 3-methylcyclohexene oxides

Saturated Cannabinoids: Update on Synthesis Strategies and Biological Studies of These Emerging Cannabinoid Analogs

Natural and non-natural hexahydrocannabinols (HHC) were first described in 1940 by Adam and in late 2021 arose on the drug market in the United States and in some European countries. A background on the discovery, synthesis, and pharmacology studies of hydrogenated and saturated cannabinoids is described. This is harmonized with a summary and comparison of the cannabinoid receptor affinities of various classical, hybrid, and non-classical saturated cannabinoids. A discussion of structure-activity relationships with the four different pharmacophores found in the cannabinoid scaffold is added to this review. According to laboratory studies in vitro, and in several animal species in vivo, HHC is reported to have broadly similar effects to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), the main psychoactive substance in cannabis, as demonstrated both in vitro and in several animal species in vivo. However, the effects of HHC treatment have not been studied in humans, and thus a biological profile has not been established.

How Lewis Acids Catalyze Ring-Openings of Cyclohexene Oxide

We have quantum chemically studied the Lewis acid-catalyzed epoxide ring-opening reaction of cyclohexene epoxide by MeZH (Z = O, S, and NH) using relativistic dispersion-corrected density functional theory. We found that the reaction barrier of the Lewis acid-catalyzed epoxide ring-opening reactions decreases upon ascending in group 1 along the series Cs+ > Rb+ > K+ > Na+ > Li+ > H+. Our activation strain and Kohn-Sham molecular orbital analyses reveal that the enhanced reactivity of the Lewis acid-catalyzed ring-opening reaction is caused by the reduced steric (Pauli) repulsion between the filled orbitals of the epoxide and the nucleophile, as the Lewis acid polarizes the filled orbitals of the epoxide more efficiently away from the incoming nucleophile. Furthermore, we established that the regioselectivity of these ring-opening reactions is, aside from the "classical" strain control, also dictated by a hitherto unknown mechanism, namely, the steric (Pauli) repulsion between the nucleophile and the substrate, which could be traced back to the asymmetric orbital density on the epoxide. In all, this work again demonstrates that the concept of Pauli-lowering catalysis is a general phenomenon.

Structural revision of a Wnt/β-catenin modulator and confirmation of cannabielsoin constitution and configuration

In this report, we revise the structure for a previously reported synthetic product proposed to be the 1R,2S-cannabidiol epoxide and reassign it as cannabielsoin using anisotropic NMR and synthetic chemistry methods.

Synthesis of Strophasterols C, E, and F

The synthesis of strophasterols C, E, and F has been accomplished from a 14,15-secoergostane derivative via a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of a nitrile oxide intermediate to simultaneously install an isolated cyclopentane ring and a C23 oxygen functionality in a diastereoselective manner and a regio- and diastereoselective selenohydroxylation of an olefinic intermediate under thermodynamic conditions. This synthesis also enabled the stereochemical confirmation of strophasterol C.