Herein, we report the first total synthesis of marine ladder polyether gymnocin B (1) based on a two-phase strategy. In Phase I, inspired by the proposed biosynthesis, epoxide-opening cascades assemble 10 out of 15 cyclic ether rings making up the molecular core. In the subsequent Phase II, coalescence elevates the molecular complexity further by coupling of these subunits. Our two-phase synthetic approach significantly improved the step efficiency of the synthesis of this class of natural products.
Shortly after the initial isolation of marine ladder polyether natural products, biomimetic epoxide-opening cascade reactions were proposed as an efficient strategy for the synthesis of these compounds. However, difficulties in assembling the cascade precursors have limited the realization of these cascades. In this report, we describe strategies that provide convergent access to cascade precursors via regioselective allylation and efficient fragment coupling. We then investigate epoxide-opening cascades promoted by strong bases for the formation of fused tetrahydropyrans. These strategies are evaluated in the context of the synthesis of rings CDEFG of brevisulcenal F.
The proposed biosynthetic pathways to ladder polyethers of polyketide origin and oxasqualenoids of terpenoid origin share a dramatic epoxide-opening cascade as a key step. Polycyclic structures generated in these biosynthetic pathways display biological effects ranging from potentially therapeutic properties to extreme lethality. Much of the structural complexity of ladder polyether and oxasqualenoid natural products can be traced to these hypothesized cascades. In this review we summarize how such epoxide-opening cascade reactions have been used in the synthesis of ladder polyethers and oxasqualenoid natural products.
This tutorial review traces the development of endo-regioselective epoxide-opening reactions in water. Templated, water-promoted epoxide-opening cyclization reactions can offer rapid access to subunits of the ladder polyethers, a fascinating and complex family of natural products. This review may be of interest to those curious about the ladder polyethers and their hypothesized biogenesis, about organic reactions in water, and about the development and application of cascade reactions in organic synthesis.
In the first total synthesis of ent-dioxepandehydrothyrsiferol, the signature trans-anti-trans 7,7,6-fused tricyclic polyether framework was constructed in a single bromonium-initiated epoxide-opening cascade that incorporates both endo- and exo-selective epoxide openings, each directed by the substitution pattern of the epoxide (methyl groups).
The structural features of polycyclic polyether natural products can, in some cases, be traced to their biosynthetic origin. However in case that are less well understood, only biosynthetic pathways that feature dramatic, yet speculative, epoxide-opening cascades are proposed. We summarize how such epoxide-opening cascade reactions have been used in the synthesis of polycyclic polyethers (see scheme) and related natural products.
Ringing the changes: The total synthesis of the title compound centers around a novel strategy that employs a nickel(0)–phosphine complex and triethyl borane in an efficient closure of a 14-membered ring through CC bond formation (see scheme; cod=cyclooctadiene). The synthesis was accomplished in 10 steps and in approximately 9 % overall yield.
Water is an effective promoter of the endo-selective opening of trisubstituted epoxides, enabling related cascades leading to a variety of substituted ladder polyether structures. When used in conjunction with a tetrahydropyran-templated nucleophile, water can overcome the powerful electronic directing effect of a methyl substituent at either site of the epoxide, making water a uniquely versatile medium and promoter of epoxide opening.
Selectivity rules in organic chemistry have been inferred largely from nonaqueous environments. In contrast, enzymes operate in water, and the chemical effect of the medium change remains only partially understood. Structural characterization of the “ladder” polyether marine natural products raised a puzzle that persisted for 20 years: Although the stereochemistry of adjacent tetrahydropyran (THP) cycles would seem to arise from a biosynthetic cascade of epoxide-opening reactions, experience in organic solvents argued consistently that such a pathway would be kinetically disfavored. We report that neutral water acts as an optimal promoter for the requisite ring-opening selectivity, once a single templating THP is appended to a chain of epoxides. This strategy offers a high-yielding route to the naturally occurring ladder core and highlights the likely importance of aqueous-medium effects in underpinning certain noteworthy enzymatic selectivities.
Lewis acid promoted cascades of a tris(disubstituted epoxide) triggered by silver-promoted abstraction of a bromide ion favors trans-dioxabicyclo[4.3.0]nonanes, rather than diads or triads of tetrahydropyrans (trans-dioxabicylco[4.4.0]decanes, for example). These results suggest that an epoxide-attacking-epoxonium mechanism is not operativein this system.