Biological Evaluations, NMR Analyses, Molecular Modeling Studies, and Overview of the Synthesis of the Marine Natural Product (-)-Mucosin.

Natural products obtained from marine organisms continue to be a rich source of novel structural architecture and of importance in drug discovery, medicine, and health. However, the success of such endeavors depends on the exact structural elucidation and access to sufficient material, often by stereoselective total synthesis, of the isolated natural product of interest. (-)-Mucosin (1), a fatty acid derivative, previously presumed to contain a rare cis-bicyclo[4.3.0]non-3-ene moiety, has since been shown to be the trans-congener. Analytically, the fused bicyclic ring system in (-)-1 constitutes a particular challenge in order to establish its relative and absolute stereochemistry. Herein, data from biological evaluations, NMR and molecular modeling studies of (-)-1 are presented. An overview of the synthetic strategies enabling the exact structural elucidation of (-)-mucosin (1) is also presented.

The Synthesis of 3-(R)- and 3-(S)-Hydroxyeicosapentaenoic Acid.

Monohydroxylated polyunsaturated fatty acids belonging to the oxylipin class of natural products are present in marine and terrestrial sources as well as in the human body. Due to their biological activities and role in diverse biosynthetic pathways, oxylipins biosynthesized from eicosapentaenoic acid and arachidonic acid have attracted great interest from the scientific community. One example is 3-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid where the absolute configuration at C-3 has only been tentatively assigned. In this paper, studies on acetate type aldol reactions that enabled the preparation of 3-(R)-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid (3R-HETE, 2) and its enantiomer are presented.

A pyridinium anionic ring-opening reaction applied to the stereodivergent syntheses of Piperaceae natural products.

A stereodivergent strategy has been devised to access the diene motif found in biologically active compounds from the Piperaceae family. Herein the first total syntheses of 2E,4E configured piperchabamide E (2) and its enantiomer (ent-2), as well as 2E,4Z configured scutifoliamide B (3), are narrated. The mainstay in the adopted approach is the gram-scale conversion of quaternized pyridine in a practical three-step sequence to access isomerically pure conjugated bromodiene esters 2E,4E8 and 2E,4Z9 by differential crystallization. Even though the developed oxidation protocol forms the basis of the entailed divergent strategy, the geometrical integrity of the involved bromodiene motive can be controlled by the choice of solvent. Thus, while oxidation of pure bromodienal 2E,4Z7 in methanol yields equal amounts of bromodiene esters 2E,4E8 and 2E,4Z9, only bromodiene ester 2E,4Z10 is formed in isopropanol. Subseqently, capitalizing on a stereoretentive Suzuki cross-coupling and direct amidation of the corresponding esters, the featured natural products can be accessed in five and six steps, respectively. The somewhat surprising (R)-configured amine portion, which has been assigned to piperchabamide E (2), is facilitated by a Curtius rearrangement. Following this, the actual amine portion is shown to be (S)-configured.

Some Biogenetic Considerations Regarding the Marine Natural Product (-)-Mucosin.

Recently, the identity of the marine hydrindane natural product (-)-mucosin was revised to the trans-fused structure 6, thereby providing a biogenetic puzzle that remains to be solved. We are now disseminating some of our insights with regard to the possible machinery delivering the established architecture. Aspects with regard to various modes of cyclization in terms of concerted versus stepwise processes are held up against the enzymatic apparatus known to be working on arachidonic acid (8). To provide a contrast to the tentative polyunsaturated fatty acid biogenesis, the structural pattern featured in (-)-mucosin (6) is compared to some marine hydrinane natural products of professed polyketide descent. Our appraisal points to a different origin and strengthens the hypothesis of a polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) as the progenitor of (-)-mucosin (6).

Total Synthesis of (-)-Mucosin and Revision of Structure.

The first total synthesis of (-)-mucosin (6), an unusual marine hydrindane natural product incorporating a prostaglandin-like submotif, has been achieved. As a result of the campaign, three of the four all-carbon stereocenters in the purported structure 1 have been revised. Of particular note is the excellent control over ß-chirality in conjugate addition to ester (-)-22 and the facial selectivity in the subsequent protonation of an intermediate silyl ketene acetal.

Stereopermutation on the Putative Structure of the Marine Natural Product Mucosin.

A stereodivergent total synthesis has been executed based on the plausibly misassigned structure of the unusual marine hydrindane mucosin (1). The topological connectivity of the four contiguous all-carbon stereocenters has been examined by selective permutation on the highlighted core. Thus, capitalizing on an unprecedented stereofacial preference of the cis-fused bicycle[4.3.0]non-3-ene system when a Michael acceptor motif is incorporated, copper-mediated conjugate addition furnished a single diastereomer. Cued by the relative relationship reported for the appendices in the natural product, the resulting anti-adduct was elaborated into a probative target structure 1*.

Total synthesis based on the originally claimed structure of mucosin.

The first total synthesis aimed at the naturally occurring eicosanoid bicycle mucosin is reported. A practical route has been devised allowing the issues relating to the previous assignment of stereochemistry to be examined. X-ray crystallography was performed on a late stage intermediate to pinpoint the topological relationship displayed by the featured bicyclo[4.3.0]non-3-ene scaffold.

Dienals derived from pyridinium salts and their subsequent application in natural product synthesis.

Transformation of quaternary pyridinium compounds into functionalized conjugated dienes can be adapted to natural product synthesis with great effect. Most conspicuously, the transformation has been employed in the preparation of polyenic structures. However, in a more convoluted application, polycyclic systems have arisen from elaboration of the diene motif. The goal of the present account is to survey the utility of dienals derived from pyridinium salts as the means to establish molecular architecture featured in natural products.

Asymmetric iodolactonization utilizing chiral squaramides.

Asymmetric iodolactonization of γ- and δ-unsaturated carboxylic acids has been explored in the presence of six different chiral organocatalysts 5-8. The catalyst 6b was found to facilitate the cyclization of 5-arylhex-5-enoic acids 1 to the corresponding iodolactones 2 with up to 96% ee. By this protocol, unsaturated carboxylic acids are converted enantioselectively to synthetically useful δ-lactones in high yields using commercially available NIS. Apparently, both hydrogen bonding and aryl/aryl interactions are important for efficient stereodifferentiation.