Counterion-Mediated Enantioconvergent Synthesis of Axially Chiral Medium Rings.

There are few enantioconvergent reactions in which racemic substrates bearing multiple stereochemical features are converted into products with high levels of diastereo- and enantiocontrol. Here, we disclose a process for the highly enantio- and diastereoselective syntheses of medium ring lactams via an intramolecular counterion-directed C-alkylation reaction. The treatment of racemic biaryl anilides that exist as a complex mixture of enantiomers and diastereoisomeric conformers by virtue of multiple axes of restricted rotation with a quinidine-derived ammonium salt under basic conditions affords medium ring lactams bearing elements of both axial and point chirality via an enolate-driven configurational relaxation process. Thermal equilibration of the syn- and anti-product diasteroisomers has demonstrated that the barriers to bowl inversion are >124 kJ mol-1. We propose that the chiral ammonium salt differentiates between a complex and rapidly equilibrating mixture of enolate and rotational isomers, ultimately leading to highly enantioselective alkylative ring closure. This dynamic and enantioconvergent process offers an operationally simple approach to the synthesis of valuable chiral medium ring lactams for which there are few catalytic and enantioselective approaches.

Practical and Scalable Kinetic Resolution of BINOLs Mediated by a Chiral Counterion.

BINOLs are valuable and widely used building blocks, chiral ligands, and catalysts that are effective across a remarkable range of different chemical transformations. Here we demonstrate that an ammonium salt catalyzed kinetic resolution of racemic BINOLs with benzyl tosylate proceeds with s up to 46. This is a scalable and practical process that can be applied across >30 different C2 - and non-C2 -symmetric BINOLs. Implementation of this method enables the enantioselective synthesis of a wide range of BINOL derivatives with over 99:1 e.r.

Toward the total synthesis of patellazole B: synthesis of an advanced C1-C25 fragment corresponding to the macrocyclic skeleton.

The patellazoles are a family of complex marine macrolides that exhibit potent cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines. However, despite extensive characterisation efforts, their full stereochemical assignment has remained elusive. We report our approach towards the synthesis-enabled structural elucidation of patellazole B (4), a 24-membered macrolide with 16 stereocentres and a signature thiazole-containing side chain. Our plan hinges upon isolating the unknown stereocentres into a single C20-C25 fragment to facilitate the flexible assembly of various possible diastereomers of an advanced C1-C25 fragment. Towards this end, a highly convergent and modular synthesis of one candidate diastereomer 37, corresponding to the patellazole B macrocyclic skeleton, has been achieved based on the strategic application of stereocontrolled aldol methodology, combined with Suzuki and Heck cross-coupling reactions.

Spirooxindoles as novel 3D-fragment scaffolds: Synthesis and screening against CYP121 from M. tuberculosis.

The search for new scaffolds to complement current HTS and fragment libraries is an active area of research. The development of novel strategies to synthesise compounds with 3D character in order to expand the diversity of a fragment library was explored. A range of substituted bicyclo[2,2,1]spirooxindoles were synthesised using a Diels-Alder [4+2] cycloaddition reaction. Both diastereoisomers were isolated from the reactions and these 3D fragment scaffolds were screened against the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP121 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A number of hits were identified to bind to CYP121 and were shown to exhibit Type I binding interactions with the heme group.

A Cascade Strategy Enables a Total Synthesis of (±)-Morphine.

Morphine has been a target for synthetic chemists since Robinson proposed its correct structure in 1925, resulting in a large number of total syntheses of morphine alkaloids. Here we report a total synthesis of (±)-morphine that employs two key strategic cyclizations: 1) a diastereoselective light-mediated cyclization of an O-arylated butyrolactone to form a tricyclic cis-fused benzofuran and 2) a cascade ene-yne-ene ring closing metathesis to forge the tetracyclic morphine core. This approach enables a short and stereoselective synthesis of morphine in an overall yield of 6.6 %.