Enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-diversonol.

For the synthesis of (-)-diversonol (ent-1), an enantioselective domino-Wacker/carbonylation/methoxylation reaction and an enantioselective Wacker oxidation were used to give the chroman in high yield and 96% and 93% ee, respectively. Dihydroxylation at the vinyl moiety using the Sharpless procedure and a Wittig-Horner reaction followed by hydrogenation, benzylic oxidation, and an intramolecular acylation provided the tetrahydroxanthenone, from which ent-1 is accessible in a few steps. Furthermore, the synthesis of the diastereomeric diversonol rac-1,9a-epi-diversonol (rac-41) is also described.

Modular chiral gold(i) phosphite complexes†Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental results and NMR data. CCDC 933751 (L11(AuCl)), 933752 (L12(AuCl)a), 933753 (L9(AuCl)), 933754 (L10(AuCl)), 933756 (L8(AuCl)), 933757 (L12(AuCl)e). For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c3cy00250kClick here for additional data file.Click here for additional data file.

Chiral gold(i) phosphite complexes are readily prepared modularly from 3,3'-bis(triphenylsilyl)-1,1'-bi-2-naphthol. These chiral gold(i) phosphite complexes are very reactive precatalysts for the [4+2] cycloaddition of aryl-substituted 1,6-enynes with enantiomeric ratios ranging from 86 : 14 up to 94 : 6.

Stereoselective synthesis of 4-dehydroxydiversonol employing enantioselective palladium-catalysed domino reactions.

The stereoselective synthesis of 4-dehydroxydiversonol (4) employing enantioselective palladium-catalysed domino processes such as the domino Wacker-Heck and the domino Wacker-carbonylation reaction for the formation of the central chroman moiety is described. Thus, reaction of 8 with palladium(II) trifluoroacetate [Pd(OTFA)2] in the presence of carbon monoxide, methanol and the 2,2'- bis(oxazolin-2-yl)-1,1'-binaphthyl (BOXAX) ligand 17 led to 19 in 80% yield and 96% ee. Similarly, the chroman 7 was prepared using 8 and methyl acrylate (9) as starting material. Hydrogenation of the double bond, oxidation of the benzylic methylene group and intramolecular acylation of chromanone 6 provided the tetrahydroxanthenone core 5, from which the synthesis of 4 was completed. The relative configuration of 4 could be established by crystal structure analysis.

Selective treatment of cancer: synthesis, biological evaluation and structural elucidation of novel analogues of the antibiotic CC-1065 and the duocarmycins.

Novel diastereomerically pure beta-D-galactosidic prodrugs (+)-12 a-e of the cytotoxic antibiotics CC-1065 and the duocarmycins were prepared for an antibody directed enzyme prodrug therapy (ADEPT) using 4 as a substrate via a radical cyclization to give rac-5 and rac-6 followed by a chromatographic resolution of the enantiomers of rac-5, glycosidation and linkage to the DNA-binding units 10 a-e. These only slightly toxic compounds can be toxified enzymatically by an antibody-beta-D-galactosidase conjugate at the surface of malignant cells to give the cytotoxic drugs, which then alkylate DNA. The new prodrugs were tested in in vitro cytotoxicity assays showing excellent QIC(50) values of 4800 and 4300 for (+)-12 a and (+)-12 b, respectively. The absolute configuration of precursor (+)-5 was determined by comparison of the experimental CD spectrum with the theoretically predicted CD spectra and by X-ray structure analysis.