(1R,2R)‐2‐(4‐Methylenecyclohex‐2‐enyl)propyl (1R,4S)‐camphanate

Esterification of a single diastereomer of 2‐(4‐methylene­cyclohex‐2‐enyl)propanol, (II), with (1R,4S)‐(+)‐camphanic acid [(1R,4S)‐4,7,7‐trimethyl‐3‐oxo‐2‐oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane‐1‐carboxylic acid] leads to the crystalline title compound, C₂₀H₂₈O₄. The relative configuration of the camphanate was determined by X‐ray diffraction analysis. The outcome clarifies the relative and absolute stereochemistry of the naturally occurring bisabolane sesquiterpenes β‐turmerone and β‐sesquiphellandrene, since we have converted (II) into both natural products via a stereospecific route.     

(R)‐Mandelic acid (S)‐alanine hemihydrate

Crystals of the title complex, C₃H₇NO₂·C₈H₈O₃·0.5H₂O, were obtained from an aqueous solution containing racemic mandelic acid and (S)‐alanine. The unit cell includes two independent molecular complexes and one water molecule. The structure formed by (R)‐mandelic acid and (S)‐alanine in a 1:1 molar ratio shows the successful optical separation of racemic mandelic acid. Strong hydrogen bonding, with a rather short O?O separation of 2.494 (3) Å, is observed between the carboxyl and carboxyl­ate groups. A structural comparison suggests that the strong hydrogen bonding affects the neighbouring covalent bond.     

(3R,4S)‐3‐Phenyl‐1‐[(R)‐1‐phenyl­ethyl]‐4‐[(R)‐1‐phenylethyliminomethyl]azetidin‐2‐one

The configuration of the chiral ring atoms of the title compound, C₂₆H₂₆N₂O, obtained in an enantioselective synthesis, has been established relative to the known R configuration of the α‐methyl­benzyl moieties. The crystal packing involves a two‐dimensional network of C—H?π interactions between the aromatic rings.     

A Concise Stereoselective Synthesis of (R)‐2‐Benzylmorpholine and ML398 from (R)‐(−)‐2‐Phenylglycinol

We describe here an efficient stereoselective method for the preparation of (R)‐2‐benzylmorpholine and ML398. The present method features a high diastereocontrol using an endocyclic oxidation of phenylglycinol‐derived morpholine and a stereoselective alkylation of chiral non‐racemic morpholin‐3‐one as key steps.     

(R)‐4‐(4‐Aminophenyl)‐2,2,4‐trimethylchroman and (S)‐4‐(4‐aminophenyl)‐2,2,4‐trimethylthiachroman

The title compounds, C₁₈H₂₁NO and C₁₈H₂₁NS, in their enantiomerically pure forms are isostructural with the enantiomerically pure 4‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl)‐2,2,4‐trimethylchroman and 4‐(2,4‐dihydroxyphenyl)‐2,2,4‐trimethylchroman analogues and form extended linear chains via N—H...O or N—H...S hydrogen bonding along the [100] direction. The absolute configuration for both compounds was determined by anomalous dispersion methods with reference to both the Flack parameter and, for the light‐atom compound, Bayesian statistics on Bijvoet differences.     

Identification of (6R)‐5,6,7,8‐Tetrahydro‐D‐monapterin (=(6R)‐2‐Amino‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐6‐[(1R,2R)‐1,2,3 ‐trihydroxypropyl]pteridin‐4(3H)‐one) as the Native Pteridine in Tetrahymena pyriformis

The structure of the native pteridine in Tetrahymena pyriformis was determined as (6R)‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐D ‐monapterin (=(6R)‐2‐amino‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐6‐[(1R,2R)‐1,2,3‐trihydroxypropyl]pteridin‐4(3H)‐one; 4 ). First, the configuration of the 1,2,3‐trihydroxypropyl side chain was confirmed as D ‐threo by the fluorescence‐detected circular dichroism (FDCD) spectrum of its aromatic pterin derivative 2 obtained by I₂ oxidation (Fig. 1). The configuration at the 6‐position of 4 was determined as (R) by comparison of its hexaacetyl derivative 6 with authentic (6R)‐ and (6S)‐hexaacetyl‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐D ‐monapterins 6 and 7 , respectively, in the HPLC, LC/MS, and LC‐MS/MS (Figs. 3 – 6). (6R)‐5,6,7,8‐Tetrahydro‐D ‐monapterin ( 4 ) is a newly discovered natural tetrahydropterin.     

(24R)‐24,25‐Dihydroxycyclo­artan‐3‐one

In the title compound, C₃₀H₅₀O₃, the three six‐membered rings adopt chair, twist and twist‐boat conformations. The five‐membered ring is in a slightly distorted envelope conformation. The substituent on the five‐membered ring is in an extended conformation, with its two hydroxyl O atoms forming an intramolecular hydrogen bond. One of these O atoms also forms an intermolecular hydrogen bond with the oxy­gen of the carbonyl group in a neighbouring mol­ecule.     

(−)‐(1R,2S,2′R,5R)‐2‐(1‐Hydroxyprop‐2‐yl)‐5‐methylcyclohexanol

Stereoselective hydroboration of (?)‐isopulegol and subsequent fractional crystallization furnishes the title compound, C₁₀H₂₀O₂. The relative configuration of the stereogenic centres has been assigned by means of X‐ray diffraction analysis since the monoterpenediol is employed as a versatile chiral building block in stereospecific natural product synthesis.     

Total Synthesis of (R,R,R)‐γ‐Tocopherol through Cu‐Catalyzed Asymmetric 1,2‐Addition

Based on the asymmetric copper‐catalyzed 1,2‐addition of Grignard reagents to ketones, (R,R,R)‐γ‐tocopherol has been synthesized in 36 % yield over 12 steps (longest linear sequence). The chiral center in the chroman ring was constructed with 73 % ee by the 1,2‐addition of a phytol‐derived Grignard reagent to an α‐bromo enone prepared from 2,3‐dimethylquinone.     

Total Synthesis of (R,R,R)‐α‐Tocopherol Through Asymmetric Cu‐Catalyzed 1,4‐Addition

By introducing a disposable activating substituent at C‐3, the asymmetric 1,4‐addition to a notoriously unreactive 2‐substituted chromenone was achieved with high levels of (2R)‐stereoselectivity in the presence of a chiral Cu^I‐phosphoramidite complex as a catalyst. This paved the way for an efficient and conceptually novel synthesis of (R,R,R)‐α‐tocopherol from readily available starting materials.     

(R)‐(6,6′‐Dihydroxybiphenyl‐2,2′‐diyl)bis(diphenylphosphine oxide) methanol solvate

The title compound, C₃₆H₂₈O₄P₂·CH₄O, was synthesized directly from the methoxy analogue. The crystal structure shows that one OH group interacts with an O atom of a phosphine oxide group in an adjacent mol­ecule, while the other OH group complexes with the methanol solvent molecule via intermolecular hydrogen bonds. An O atom of one phosphine oxide group interacts with the hydroxy H atom of methanol via a hydrogen bond. There are intra‐ and intermolecular π–π interactions between the phenyl rings. All these interactions result in the formation of supramolecular chiral parallelogram channels via self‐assembly.     

(E)‐N′‐[5‐Chloro‐3‐methoxy‐2‐(4‐methylphenylsulfonyloxy)benzylidene]isonicotinohydrazide acetic acid solvate: hydrogen‐bonded network of alternating R44(42), R55(33) and R66(40) rings

In the title compound, C₂₁H₁₈ClN₃O₅S·C₂H₄O₂, a combination of O—H...O, N—H...O, C—H...O and C—H...N hydrogen bonds links the components into a complex network containing alternating R₄⁴(42), R₅⁵(33) and R₆⁶(40) rings.     

Enantioselective Synthesis of (−)‐(R)‐Cordiachromene and (−)‐(R)‐Dictyochromenol Utilizing Intramolecular SNAr Reaction

A simple and efficient enantioselective synthesis of chromene, (?)‐(R)‐cordiachromene ( 1 ), and (?)‐(R)‐dictyochromenol ( 2 ) has been accomplished. This convergent synthesis utilizes intramolecular S_NAr reaction for the formation of chroman ring, and Seebach's method of ‘self‐reproduction of chirality’ should establish the (R)‐configuration of the C(2) side chain as key steps.     

1,3(R):4,6(R)‐Di‐O‐benzyl­idene‐d‐mannitol

The title compound, C₂₀H₂₂O₆, has crystallographic twofold symmetry. The central six‐C‐atom chain has an extended conformation similar to that of d ‐mannitol, with two independent C—C—C—C torsion angles of 165.69 (14) and 177.60 (12)°. The 1,3‐dioxane ring has a chair conformation. All chiral centers have the R configuration.     

Self‐association promoted conformational transition of (3R,4S,8R,9R)‐9‐[(3,5‐bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl))‐thiourea](9‐deoxy)‐epi‐cinchonine

The conformational diversity of the (3R,4S,8R,9R)‐9‐[(3,5‐bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl))‐thiourea](9‐deoxy)‐epi‐cinchonine organocatalyst is discussed. Low‐temperature NMR experiments confirmed a self‐association process, which promotes the quinoline rotation between two intramolecularly hydrogen‐bonded monomeric conformers of the catalyst. The balanced population of the coexisting monomeric and dimeric species allowed us to conduct a structural study of a rather complex conformational dynamics of the pure catalyst. The study is extended by a comparison with other members of the bifunctional amine‐thiourea organocatalyst family. Changes in the molecular structure of the catalysts influence the interplay between intra‐ and intermolecular hydrogen bonding, and yield different extent of catalyst self‐association. By assessing the conformation of the individual states, we established the thermodynamic model of a self‐association promoted conformational transition. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Confirmation of the Absolute (3R,3′S,6′R)‐Configuration of (all‐E)‐3′‐Epilutein

Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy was used to distinguish between the isomeric (all‐E)‐configured 3′‐epilutein ( 2 ) and 6′‐epilutein ( 8 ) to establish the absolute configuration of epilutein samples of different (natural and semisynthetic) origin, including samples of 2 obtained from thermally processed sorrel. Thus, the CD data of lutein ( 1 ) and epilutein samples ( 2 ) were compared. Our results unambiguously confirmed the (3R,3′S,6′R)‐configuration of all epilutein samples. Compound 2 was thoroughly characterized, and its ¹³C‐NMR data are published herewith for the first time.     

(2R,3R,4R,5S)‐3,4,5‐Tri­hydroxy‐2‐(2‐hydroxy­ethyl)­piperidinium chloride

The absolute configuration at the new stereogenic centre during the key step of the total synthesis was established byX‐ray analysis of the title compound, C₇H₁₅NO₄⁺·Cl^?.     

Total Synthesis of (−)‐Tetrodotoxin and 11‐norTTX‐6(R)‐ol

The enantioselective total synthesis of (−)‐tetrodotoxin [(−)‐TTX] and 4,9‐anhydrotetrodotoxin, which are selective blockers of voltage‐gated sodium channels, was accomplished from the commercially available p ‐benzoquinone. This synthesis was based on efficient stereocontrol of the six contiguous stereogenic centers on the core cyclohexane ring through Ogasawara's method, [3,3]‐sigmatropic rearrangement of an allylic cyanate, and intramolecular 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition of a nitrile oxide. Our synthetic route was applied to the synthesis of the tetrodotoxin congeners 11‐norTTX‐6(R )‐ol and 4,9‐anhydro‐11‐norTTX‐6(R )‐ol through late‐stage modification of the common intermediate. Neutral deprotection at the final step enabled easy purification of tetrodotoxin and 11‐norTTX‐6(R )‐ol without competing dehydration to their 4,9‐anhydro forms.