Sulphur in the Strategy of Natural Products Synthesis

Abstract

Syntheses of secondary metabolites of α-and β-mercapto aminoacids are described. The strategy in the first class of compounds consists of using N-hydroxy-α-amino acid derivatives as intermediates and of converting them into α-functionalized, in particular thiol-substituted amino acids; as examples serve syntheses in the gliotoxin and sporidesmin series. In the second class of compounds the cycloaddition products of indole derivatives, having sulfide substituents, and nitroso olefins are transformed into indole alkaloids, in particular tryptathionins, by rearrangement and further reactions. The antitumor agent sparsomycin has been synthesized via an amino sultine and its stereospecific nucleophilic ring opening. Bioassays done with this compound and sixteen of its structural analogs gave insight in the structural features that are required for sparsomycin's antitumor activity.     

Indole derivatives

The behavior of some 3-nitrovinyl indoles in their reactions with nitrogen-containing nucleophilic reagents is examined. It is shown that hydroxylamine, phenylhydrazine, hydrazine, and semicarbazide react with 3--nitrovinyl indole to give the corresponding oxime, phenylhydrazone, azine, and semicarbazone of indole-3-aldehyde, possibly by decomposition of intermediates formed by the addition of the nucleophilic reagents to the nitrovinyl indole. 3--Nitropropenyl indole and N-methyl-3--nitrovinyl indole react similarly. Only the addition products of phenylhydrazine with N-acetyl-3-nitrovinyl indole and N-acetyl-3--nitropropenyl indole are stable. The reaction conditions and constants of the compounds prepared are given, and explanations are offered for the results obtained.For part XXXV, see [14].     

Study on the reactions of fluoroalkanesulfonyl azides with indole derivatives

The reactions of fluoroalkanesulfonyl azides 1 with different indole derivatives have been studied in detail. Treatment of 1 with equimolar amount of 1,3-dimethylindole 3 in 1,4-dioxane at room temperature afforded 2-(1,3-dimethyl-1,3-dihydro-indolinylidene) fluoroalkanesulfonylimines 5 in moderate to good yields. However, under the same reaction conditions, in the case of 1 with 1,2-dimethylindole 4, the corresponding 2-fluoroalkanesulfonyl (1,2-dimethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-amide 6 was obtained in moderate yields. In addition, the reactions of 1 and indole 7 gave different products under different conditions. Possible mechanisms of these reactions were proposed.     

A family of numerical multistep methods with three distinct schemes: explicit advanced step-point (EAS) methods and the EAS1 approach

In this work, for the first time in an article, we present in a comprehensive way the explicit advanced step-point (EAS) methods. The EAS methods is a family of methods designed for the numerical solution of non-stiff and mildly stiff initial value problems (IVPs) and comprises three distinct schemes: EAS1, EAS2 and EAS3. A thorough theoretical analysis of the EAS family of predictor–corrector methods is presented in terms of their accuracy and stability characteristics and requirements, as well as the rationale for creating the three distinct schemes mentioned above. In this paper we also examine in detail one of the three schemes, the EAS1 methods. EAS1 are assessed for the very first time, are meticulously studied and their superior regions of absolute stability are presented. Furthermore the computational efficiency of EAS1 is examined and comparative numerical results are presented with the use of a variable step, variable order EAS1 code. The numerical results provide good evidence that EAS1 could be seen as superior to the well established Adams methods for the numerical solution of mildly stiff initial value problems.     

A theoretical investigation into chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reactions of nitroolefins and 4,7-dihydroindoles: reactivity and enantioselectivity

This article mainly focused on high level Density Functional Theory (DFT) studies on the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts reactions between 4,7-dihydroindoles and nitroolefins. Firstly, the reactivities of 4,7-dihydroindole and indole in the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts reactions with nitroolefin have been compared. The higher reactivity of 4,7-dihydroindole could be attributed to its higher HOMO energy as well as its more suitable trajectory to attack the nitroolefin in the transition state. Secondly, the origin of the enantioselectivity of the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts reaction of 4,7-dihydroindole with nitroolefin has been studied using complete models on PBE1PBE/[6-311+G(d,p), 6-31G(d,p)] level. When (S)-1b was used as the catalyst, the enantioselectivity of the reaction is entirely controlled by the steric effect between the catalyst and the substrate. Whereas for catalyst (S)-1c the enantioselectivity is determined by the solvent effect.     

Application of iridium catalyzed allylic substitution reactions in the synthesis of branched tryptamines and homologues via tandem hydroformylation-Fischer indole synthesis

Combination of enantioselective allylation reactions with a tandem hydroformylation-Fischer indole synthesis sequence as a highly diversity-oriented strategy for the synthesis of tryptamines and homologues was explored. This modular approach allows the substituents at C3 of the indole core, the type of the amine moiety, and the distance of the amine moiety to the indole core in the final synthetic step to be defined. The starting materials required for the hydroformylation step were synthesized via iridium catalyzed enantioselective allylic substitution reactions in high yields and excellent enantioselectivities. The Rh catalyzed hydroformylation step in the presence of phenyl hydrazine, allows the in situ formed aldehyde to be trapped as the hydrazone. Subsequent acid catalyzed indolization furnishes the desired indole structures in moderate to good yields.     

Reactions of o-aminobenzothiazole over a mixed oxide catalyst

A study is made of the reactions undergone by o-aminoethylbenzene over a mixed oxide catalyst at atmospheric pressure, temperature 580 °–620 ° C, either neat, or in the presence of H₂O, CO₂, or N₂ as diluent. It is shown that under those conditions the main reaction is dehydrocyclization of the o-aminoethylbenzene to indole. The maximum yield of indole (39%) is obtained at 620 ° C with dilution with CO₂ or N₂ at a weight ratio 11 or 12, respectively.     

Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles with trichloroacetimidates

Substituted indole scaffolds are often utilized in medicinal chemistry as they regularly possess significant pharmacological activity. Therefore the development of simple, inexpensive and efficient methods for alkylating the indole heterocycle continues to be an active research area. Reported are reactions of trichloroacetimidate electrophiles and indoles to address the challenges of accessing alkyl decorated indole structures. These alkylations perform best when either the indole or the imidate is functionalized with electron withdrawing groups to avoid polyalkylation.     

Reaction of 3-(R-methylidene)-2-ethoxylindolenines with <Emphasis Type="Italic">N,N</Emphasis>'-binucleophiles

Reactions of 3-isopropylidene- and 3-cyclohexylidene-2-ethoxyindolenine tetrafluoroborates with guanidine afford dihydropyrimido[4,5-b]indole derivatives containing a hydroxy group, unlike analogous reactions of 3-arylmethylidene and 3-(dimethylamino)methylidene tetrafluoroborates.     

3-Acylindoles as versatile starting materials for pyridine ring annulation: synthesis of 1-deazapurine isosteres

The reaction of electron-rich aminoheterocycles with 3-acyl- and 3-formylindoles results in indole ring opening and cyclocondensation to give heteroannulated pyridines, which can be regarded as purine isosteres. The transformations reported herein represent rare examples of domino reactions, which include the cleavage of an indole moiety.     

Cascade Multicomponent Synthesis of Indoles,Pyrazoles, and Pyridazinones by Functionalization of Alkenes

The development of multicomponent reactions for indole synthesis is demanding and has hardly been explored. The present study describes the development of a novel multicomponent, cascade approach for indole synthesis. Various substituted indole derivatives were obtained from simple reagents, such as unfunctionalized alkenes, diazonium salts, and sodium triflinate, by using an established straightforward and regioselective method. The method is based on the radical trifluoromethylation of alkenes as an entry into Fischer indole synthesis. Besides indole synthesis, the application of the multicomponent cascade reaction to the synthesis of pyrazoles and pyridazinones is described.     

Indole‐N‐Carboxylic Acids and Indole‐N‐Carboxamides in Organic Synthesis

Indoles are ubiquitous structures that are found in natural products and biologically active molecules. The synthesis of indoles and indole‐involved synthetic methodologies in organic chemistry have been receiving considerable attention. Indole‐N‐carboxylic acids and derived indole‐N‐carboxamides are intriguing compounds, which have been widely used in organic synthesis, especially in multicomponent reactions and C?H functionalization of indoles. This Minireview summarizes the advances of reactions involving indole‐N‐carboxylic acids and indole‐N‐carboxamides in organic chemistry, and discusses the synthetic potential and perspective of this field.     

Total synthesis of (±)-cycloclavine and (±)-5-epi-cycloclavine

Novel routes to the naturally occurring indole alkaloid cycloclavine and its unnatural C(5)-epimer are described. Key features include the rapid construction of the heterocyclic core segments by two Diels-Alder reactions. An indole annulation was accomplished by a late-stage intramolecular Diels-Alder furan cycloaddition, and a methylenecyclopropane dienophile was used for a stereoselective intramolecular [4 + 2] cycloaddition to give the cyclopropa[c]indoline building block present in cycloclavine.     

Macrocyclic Cyclooctene-Supported AlCl–Salen Catalysts for Conjugated Addition Reactions: Effect of Linker and Support Structure on Catalysis

AlCl–salen (salen=N,N′-bis(salicylidene)ethylenediamine dianion) catalysts supported onto macrocyclic oligomeric cyclooctene through linkers of varying length and flexibility have been developed to demonstrate the importance of support architecture on catalyst activity. The role played by the support and the linkers in dictating catalyst activity was found to vary for reactions with contrasting mechanisms, such as the bimetallic cyanide and the monometallic indole addition reactions. While the flexible support significantly enhanced the cyanide addition reaction, most likely by improving salen–salen interactions in the transition state, it lowered the reaction rate for the monometallic indole reaction. For both reactions, significant increase in catalytic activity was observed for catalysts with the longest linkers. The effect of the flexible macrocyclic support on catalysis was further exemplified by the enhanced activity of the supported catalyst in comparison with its unsupported analogue for the conjugate addition of tetrazoles, which is known to be catalyzed by dimeric μ-oxo–salen catalysts. Our studies with the cyclooctene supported AlCl–salen catalysts provides significant insights for rationally designing highly efficient AlCl–salen catalysts for a diverse set of reactions.     

Novel stereoselective syntheses of highly functionalized benzannulated pyrrolizidines and indolizidines by samarium diiodide induced cyclizations of indole derivatives

[reaction: see text] Suitably substituted heteroaromatic compounds such as indole and pyrrole derivatives are excellent acceptor units for intramolecular couplings of samarium ketyls. They furnish highly functionalized indole derivatives with very good diastereoselectivities additionally. Intermediate samarium enolates can be trapped by electrophiles, allowing efficient tandem reactions.     

Activating weak electrophiles to break nonpolar C-C bonds with electric fields

Electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS) is a critical chemical reaction in organic chemistry in which electrophiles reagents is normally required. Recently, a study published by Yaping Zang and colleagues in Nature Communications demonstrates the use of an electric field as a catalyst to regulate EAS reactivity, replacing conventional chemical reagents. The research team discovered that an electric field could activate an otherwise unreactive electrophile and break inert nonpolar C-C bonds under mild conditions. These unprecedented results showcase the potential for broadening the scope of EAS reactions via electric field catalysis.

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Microwave-Assisted Solid Phase Organic Synthesis.Application to Indole Library Construction

Microwave-assisted organic synthesis (MAOS) has attained increasing popularity due to recent advancement in the instrumentation of microwave technology. Now, MAOS can be performed under controlled temperature and pressure to yield reproducible results. For combinatorial chemistry,the dramatically increased reaction rate under microwave irradiation at high temperature provides an ideal solution to those sluggish reactions, in particular the combinatorial reactions carried out on solid supports. In this presentation, we describe our results on microwave-assisted solid-phase organic synthesis (MASPOS) applied to the construction of indole libraries such as 5. Compounds 4 were synthesized on the Rink amide resins using IRORI MicroKanTM reactors encoded with a radio-frequency (Rf) tag. The resin-bound terminal alkynes 2, prepared via the amide bond, were cross-coupled with the nitroaryl triflate under the conditions adopted from the solution reactions developed by us1,2. The nitro group of 3 was then reduced and sulfonylated to give 4. Ring closure reactions within 4 with Cu(OAc)2 were examined initially in refluxing DCE for 24 h, but no indole product was detected after cleavage from the resin. Therefore, the same reactions were carried out under microwave irradiation at 200 ℃ for 10 min on a Personal Chemistry Emrys Creator, the desired indoles 5 were obtained in 60-95% overall yields calculated from 1 and in ＞90% purities in most cases3. It is necessary to mention that the IRORI microreactors cannot tolerate the high temperature and the resin-bound 4 must be transferred to the reaction vials for the microwave-assisted ring closure reactions. A traceless synthesis of an indole library via MASPOS will be discussed as well.4     

Novel cyclometallated Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes with indole derivatives and their use as catalysts in Heck reaction

Several palladacycle and platinacycle complexes have been prepared from easily available or naturally occurring indole derivatives, such as gramine and related compounds. Dimeric complexes were obtained with Pd(OAc)₂, while Pt(DMSO)₂Cl₂ mainly afforded monomeric structures. A notable feature of these reactions was the formation of new M-C bonds between Pd or Pt and C-2 and C-3 of the indole ring. With ligands like 2-(2′-pyridyl)-1H-indoles, N-N metallacycles were generated instead: in fact new C-M bonds with the C-3 position could only form if N-substituted indoles were used. The reactivity of Pd dimeric complexes with PPh₃, sym-collidine and DMAP was explored to obtain monomeric complexes. Three such compounds were prepared, one of which was characterized by X-ray diffraction. Metathetical reactions were carried out to effect a ligand exchange replacing OAc with halide ions, with the aim to synthesize μ-Cl and μ-Br bridged structures. Turning to the synthesis of hetaryl complexes, functionalization of the C-2 position on the indole ring was achieved. These complexes were prepared by substitution reactions starting from gramine and/or its alkylammonium salts.     

Divergent synthesis of isoindolo[2,1-a]indole and indolo[1,2-a]indole through copper-catalysed C- and N-arylations

A simple and efficient synthetic route to both isoindolo[2,1-a]indole and its structural isomer indolo[1,2-a]indole skeletons is presented. The key steps of the strategy are based on copper-catalysed C_aryl-C and C_aryl-N bond formation reactions, respectively. Moreover, we report the first copper-mediated intramolecular C-H functionalisation of an indole.     

An expeditious synthesis for γ-carboline analogue 4-aryl-1,3-thiazino[6,5-b]indole derivatives via the trifluoromethanesulfonic acid-promoted isomerization of 3-amidomethylthioindole intermediates to 2-indolyl sulfides

A highly efficient trifluoromethanesulfonic acid-mediated rearrangement of the benzoylaminomethylthio group of 3-benzoylaminomethylthioindoles (7a-e) to position 2 of the indole ring was developed. Thus, 2-benzoylaminomethylthioindoles (9a-e) were obtained in good yields and were involved as key intermediates in the synthesis of the new γ-carboline analogue ring system: 2,9-dihydro-4-aryl-1,3-thiazino[6,5-b]indole derivatives (11a-e). The target thiazinoindoles (11a-e) were prepared via 2-thiobenzoylaminomethylindoles (10a-e) in modified Bischler-Napieralski reactions.