Total Synthesis and Computational Investigations of Sesquiterpene-Tropolones Ameliorate Stereochemical Inconsistencies and Resolve an Ambiguous Biosynthetic Relationship.

The sesquiterpene-tropolones belong to a distinctive structural class of meroterpene natural products with impressive biological activities, including anticancer, antifungal, antimalarial, and antibacterial. In this article, we describe a concise, modular, and cycloaddition-based approach to a series of sesquiterpene mono- and bistropolones, including (-)-epolone B, (+)-isoepolone B, (±)-dehydroxypycnidione, and (-)-10-epi-pycnidione. Alongside the development of a general strategy to access this unique family of metabolites were computational modeling studies that justified the diastereoselectivity observed during key cycloadditions. Ultimately, these studies prompted stereochemical reassignments of the pycnidione subclass and shed additional light on the biosynthesis of these remarkable natural products.

A Process Chemistry Benchmark for sp2-sp3 Cross Couplings.

As sp2-sp3 disconnections gain acceptance in the medicinal chemist's toolbox, an increasing number of potential drug candidates containing this motif are moving into the pharmaceutical development pipeline. This raises a new set of questions and challenges around the novel, direct methodologies available for forging these bonds. These questions gain further importance in the context of process chemistry, where the focus is the development of scalable processes that enable the large-scale delivery of clinical supplies. In this paper, we describe our efforts to apply a wide variety of standard, photo-, and electrochemical sp2-sp3 cross-coupling methods to a pharmaceutically relevant intermediate and optimize each through a combination of high throughput and mechanistically guided experimentation. With data regarding the performance, benefits, and limitations of these novel methods, we evaluate them against a more traditional two-step palladium-catalyzed process. This work reveals trends and similarities between these sp2-sp3 bond-forming methods and suggests a path forward for further refinements.

Gas phase thermal reactions of exo-8-cyclopropyl-bicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene (1-exo).

The title compound 1-exo (with minor amounts of its C8 epimer 1-endo) was prepared by Wolff-Kishner reduction of the cycloadduct of 1,3-cyclohexadiene and cyclopropylketene. The [1,3]-migration product 2-endo was synthesized by efficient selective cyclopropanation of endo-5-vinylbicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene at the exocyclic π-bond. Gas phase thermal reactions of 1-exo afforded C8 epimerization to 1-endo, [1,3]- migrations to 2-exo and 2-endo, direct fragmentation to cyclohexadiene and vinylcyclopropane, and CPC rearrangement in the following relative kinetic order: kep > k13 > kf > kCPC.

Experimental evidence of a cyclopropylcarbinyl conjugative electronic effect.

Bicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-enes undergo thermal rearrangement to norbornenes via diradical transition structures. The synthesis of exo-7-cyclopropylbicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene has been achieved by cycloaddition of cyclopentadiene and cyclopropylketene, generated by treatment of cyclopropylacetyl chloride with triethylamine. A comparison of the cyclopropyl substituent effect with that of other C7 substituents provides experimental evidence of an electron-donating conjugative effect on the transient diradical transition structure in the thermal reaction of exo-7-cyclopropylbicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-ene.