Enantiospecific Synthesis Of Guaianes And Tricyclic Ring Systems Of Elisabethins And Dumsins

Abstract

One area of natural product synthesis which has been heavily investigated in the last eight decades is the total synthesis of terpenoids. Among terpenoids, the presence of a great deal of stereochemical complexity in combination with a variety of functionalities makes sesquiterpenes challenging targets to the synthetic chemists. As a result synthetic activity in this area continues to flourish. The thesis entitled “Enantiospecific Synthesis of Guaianes and Tricyclic Ring Systems of Elisabethins and Dumsins’’ describes the studies directed towards the synthesis of the guaiane sesquiterpenes and exploratory studies towards elisabethins and dumsin diterpenoids. For convenience, the results are presented in two chapters; viz (1) Enantiospecific Total Synthesis of Guaiane Sesquiterpenes; and (2) Enantiospecific Synthesis of ABC Ring System of the Diterpenoids Elisabethins and Tetranortriterpenoids Dumsins. In each chapter of the thesis, the compounds are sequentially numbered (bold) and references are marked sequentially as superscripts and listed at the end of the chapter. All the spectra included in the thesis were obtained by xeroxing the original NMR spectra. Clavukerin A, the first member of the trisnorguaianes, was simultaneously isolated in 1983 by the research groups of Kitagawa from the Okinawan soft coral Clavularia koellikeri (stolonifer), and Bowden from the Australian soft coral Cespituloria sp. In 1992, Kakisawa and his research group reported the isolation of isoclavukerin A from the Okinawan soft coral Clavularia sp. In the present thesis, formal total syntheses of clavukerin A and isoclavukerin A have been described in the first part of the first chapter. To begin with, (R)-limonene has been transformed into 1-[5-isopropenyl-2-methylcyclopent-1-en-1-yl]pent-4-en-1-one via the 5-isopropenyl-2-methyl-cyclopent-1-en-1-carboxaldehyde. RCM reaction of the enone produced 6,10-dimethylbicyclo[5.3.0]deca-1(10),5-dien-2-one, which on epoxidation generated 1-[(1S,2S,5R) and (1R,2S,5S)-2-isopropenyl-5-methyl-6-oxabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-1yl]pent-4-en-1-ones. These epoxy ketones were then transformed into (6S,7S) and (6R,7S)6,10-dimethylbicyclo[5.3.0]dec-1(10)-en-2-ones, thus completing the formal total synthesis of clavukerin A and isoclavukerin A. In the subsequent parts of the first chapter, enantiospecific total syntheses of the guaiane sesquiterpenes, aciphyllenes A and B, isocalamusenone and 6-epiisocalamusenones, and (6S)- and (6R)-11-hydroxyguaiadienes have been described. Aciphyllene A was isolated in 1983 by Kubota and co-workers from the essential oil of the roots of Lindera glauca. Aciphyllene B was isolated by Konig et al. in 1998 from the liverwort D. hirusta. In 1979, Rohr and co-workers reported the isolation of isocalamusenone from the plant Acorus calamus L, In 2000, Nkunya and colleagues isolated (6R)-11-hydroxyguaiadiene from the root bark of Lettowianthus stellatus, whereas (6S)-11-hydroxyguaiadiene was isolated in 1977 by Bohlmann et al. from the roots of Parthenium hysterophorus. The 5isopropenyl-2-methyl-cyclopent-1-en-1-carboxaldehyde derived from (R)-limonene has been converted into the (3R,4S,6S,7S)- and (3R,4S,6R,7S)-3-acetyl-6,10 dimethylbicyclo[5.3.0]dec1(10)-en-4-ols employing a type II carbonyl ene reaction and Wilkinson’s hydrogenation as the key steps, which have been further converted into aciphyllenes A and B along with their C-6 epimers, (+)-isocalamusenone, 6-epi-isocalamusenone, and (6S)- and (6R)-11-hydroxyguaiadienes. In the second chapter of the thesis, enantiospecific synthesis of the ABC-ring systems of elisabethin group of diterpenoids and tetranortriterpenoids dumsins have been described, starting from the readily available monoterpene (R)-carvone. To begin with, (R)-carvone has been transformed into 1,6,6-triallylcarveol, which on two simultaneous RCM reactions generated the ABC-ring system of the elisabethin group of diterpenoids. An alternative synthetic strategy was also developed for the same compound. Thus, first (R)-carvone has been transformed into 6-allyl-10-isopropenyl-7-methylspiro[4.5]deca-2,7-dien-6-ol, which on ROM-RCM reaction generated the requisite tricyclic alcohol, which on oxidation generated 4,8-dimethyltricyclo[7.4.0.01,5]trideca-3,8,11-trien-7-one, which represents the ABC ring system of elisabethins. Introduction of the second allyl group at the C-7 position of 6-allyl-10isopropenyl-7-methylspiro[4.5]deca-2,6-dien-8-one followed by RCM reaction resulted in the formation of the tricyclic ketones (1S,4S,6R) and (1R,4S,6R)-4-isopropenyl-1-methylbicyclo[4.4.0]decanespiro[5,1']-cyclopenta-3',8-diene-2-ones, which represents the ABC ring system of tetranortriterpenoids dumsins.