New asymmetric approach to natural pyrrolizidines: synthesis of (+)-amphorogynine A, (+)-amphorogynine D, and (+)-retronecine.

Three natural pyrrolizidines, (+)-amphorogynines A and D and (+)-retronecine, have been prepared from a common lactam intermediate. This central compound, in turn, was synthesized in diastereomerically enriched form through a highly selective [2 + 2]-cycloaddition of dichloroketene with a chiral enol ether, followed by Beckmann ring expansion and reduction. Subsequent stereocenters were then cleanly introduced through internal induction.