The impact of dienone substitution on the Nazarov cyclization has been examined in detail. Substrates bearing different substituents at each of four positions on the dienone backbone were systematically probed in order to identify trends leading to higher reactivity and better selectivity. Desymmetrization of the pentadienyl cation and oxyallyl cation intermediates through placement of polarizing groups at both the C-2 and C-4 positions was found to be particularly effective. These modifications allowed cyclizations to occur in the presence of catalytic amounts of mild Lewis acids. It was also found that stereoconvergent cyclization of mixtures of E and Z isomers of alkylidene beta-ketoesters occurred via an efficient isomerization process that occurred under the reaction conditions.

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A general, catalytic method for efficient Nazarov cyclization of systems containing heteroaromatic components has been developed. Scandium triflate was identified as the most reactive promoter, and it was found that addition of lithium perchlorate was necessary for synthetically useful catalytic cyclizations. The method was used to synthesize a range of cyclopentanone-fused heteroaromatic systems in 36-97% yield, and the reactivity trends observed demonstrate the impact of polarization on cyclization efficiency. [reaction: see text].

Scheme 1. The Nazarov reaction mechanism.[a] T.Scheme 2. Asymmetric Nazarov cyclization using BINOL-based chiral acids.

Two concise syntheses of (+/-)-frondosin B (1), an interleukin-8 receptor antagonist, have been achieved from commercially available 5-methoxysalicylaldehyde. The seven-membered ring in ketone 33, the common intermediate for both syntheses, was built by a classical Friedel-Crafts reaction. The key step of the first route was facile cationic cyclization of the vinylogous benzofuran to the trisubstituted olefin (30 --> 16 + 38) to construct a six-membered carbocycle. Although this route demonstrated the efficacy of the stepwise approach to the frondosin ring-system, it also resulted in olefinic isomers that were easily isomerized in acidic conditions. In the second route, we utilized a Diels-Alder reaction between sterically demanding diene 42 and nitroethylene to fix the double bond in its required position in the resultant dimethylcyclohexane ring. A third total synthesis was devised for the purpose of determining the absolute configuration of frondosin B. It reached diene 42, this time in the enantiomerically defined form. From this point, naturally configured frondosin B was obtained in the enantiomerically enriched form. These studies establish the absolute configuration of the secondary methyl center in frondosin B to be R.