No abstract

[reaction: see text] The addition of nucleophiles to 3-substituted pyridinium salts prepared from N-methylbenzamide and various pyridines has been investigated. Good to excellent regioselectivities favoring the 2,3-disubstituted 1,2-dihydropyridines were observed. The resulting 1,2-dihydropyridines led to the corresponding 2,3-disubstituted pyridines upon treatment with Mn(OAc)3/NaIO4. This methodology was also successfully applied to the enantioselective syntheses of (-)-L-733,061 and (-)-CP-99,994, two members of a new class of highly potent, nonpeptide, Substance P antagonists.

The bisanthraquinone antibiotic BE-43472B [(+)-1] was isolated by Rowley and coworkers from a streptomycete strain found in a green algae associated with the ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata and has shown promising antibacterial activity against clinically derived isolates of methicillin-susceptible, methicillin-resistant, and tetracyclin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA, MRSA, and TRSA, respectively), and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE). Described herein is the first total synthesis of both enantiomers of this bisanthraquinone antibiotic, the determination of its absolute configuration, as well as the biological evaluation of these and related compounds. The developed synthesis relies on a highly efficient cascade sequence involving an intermolecular Diels–Alder reaction between diene (R)-61 and dienophile 55 followed by an intramolecular nucleophilic aromatic ipso substitution. Late stage transformations included a remarkable photochemical α,β-epoxyketone rearrangement [80 → (+)-1]. Interestingly, the unnatural enantiomer [(–)-1] of antibiotic BE-43472B exhibited comparable antibacterial properties to those of the natural enantiomer [(+)-1].

[reaction: see text] The asymmetric synthesis of 2,6-disubstituted 3-piperidinols having a 2,3-cis and 2,6-trans relative stereochemistry was accomplished in three steps using the following sequence: stereocontrolled nucleophilic addition of an organomagnesium reagent to a chiral pyridinium salt; monohydrogenation of the resulting 2-substituted 1,2-dihydropyridine; and a one-pot, highly diastereoselective epoxidation-nucleophilic addition with a heteroatom nucleophile or an organometallic reagent. This methodology was applied to the expedient asymmetric synthesis of (+)-julifloridine in four steps.

[reaction: see text] A new methodology for the stereoselective synthesis of trans-2-substituted 3-amino-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridines is reported. The preparation of these 3-aminopiperidines is achieved by cycloaddition of nitrosobenzene with 2-substituted 1,2-dihydropyridines followed by chemoselective reduction of the cycloadducts. Enantioenriched 1,2-dihydropyridine derivatives are easily prepared from pyridine and a chiral amide following a previous report from our laboratories. Moreover, the in situ hydrogenation of these cycloadducts over palladium in a solution of hydrogen chloride in methanol led to tetrahydropyrroloimidazoles.