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Synthesis of (+)-8-deoxyvernolepin and its 11,13-dihydroderivative. A novel reaction initiated by sulfene elimination leads to the 2-oxa-cis-decalin skeleton

Abstract:

The title compounds are interesting candidates for antifungal screening. This paper describes the enantiospecific synthesis of these compounds starting from (+)-costunolide isolated from a commercially available extract. We used two novel reactions as key synthetic steps in this work: the acid-induced cyclization of an δ,ε-epoxy ester, which stereoselectively gave a hydroxymethyl-substituted δ-lactone, with the hydroxyalkyl group in the desired β-equatorial disposition, and a reaction cascade, initiated by a base-promoted sulfene elimination, which led to a 10-oxiranyl-2-oxa-cis-decalin from the mesylate of a trans-fused δ-lactone. We also found that the reaction between selenium dioxide and the 1,5-diene system of elemanolides gave selenadecalins analogous to natural eudesmanolides. Our results prove that the synthetic strategy employed, on the basis of biomimetic concepts, is a useful procedure for the enantiospecific preparation of (+)-vernolepin-related compounds from accessible germacrolides.