In 1999 Fukuyama reported the isolation of 3-hydroxyvibsanin E (1) (Figure 1) from Viburnum awabuki 1 with an additional finding in Viburnum suspensum three years later. 2 Across the entire spectrum of vibsane natural products α-hydroxylation is very rare, 3,4 occuring only at position 3 of the bridged 7-membered ring class [e.g. 3-hydroxy-15-Omethylcyclovibsanin A (2), 5 furanovibsanin A (3), 6 and 3-O-methylfuranovibsanin A (4)6] ( Figure 1). Although, the assumed later stage p450 enzymatic oxidation 7 to introduce the single hydroxyl group at position 3 is biosynthetically elegant it posses a considerable increase in the degree of synthetic challenge over the non-hydroxylated family members. Recently, we disclosed a combined effort which resulted in the total syntheses of both (−)-epi-5-vibsanin E (5) 8 and (±)-vibsanin E (6). 9 On this basis we felt that the methodology devised to prepare 5 and 6, and the experience gained from individual efforts 10,11 on other vibsane natural products, could be applied to the more challenging hydroxylated family members, specifically 3-hydroxyvibsanin E (1) (Figure 1).Key to this endeavour would be the use of Davies' tricyclic advanced intermediate 7, 10 generated by means of two cycloadditions: 1) a rhodium-catalysed [4+3] cycloaddition to give 8 from 9, and 2) a subsequent heteronuclear [4+2] cycloadditon (Scheme 1). The tricyclic intermediate 7 has been effectively used in the synthesis of both (−)-epi-5-vibsanin E (5) 8 and (±)-vibsanin E (6) 9 as summarized in scheme 1. In order to apply 7 to the synthesis of 3-hydroxyvibsanin E (1), a regioselective C-H hydroxylation of one of the intermediates in Scheme 1 would be required. 12 In this paper, we summarize the model studies to develop a selective C-H hydroxylation, followed by its application to studies toward the total synthesis of (±)-3-hydroxyvibsanin E (1).Several reasonable approaches are available for the selective C-H hydroxylation of vibsane-related intermediates. Williams reported11f that Koser's reagent 13 [PhI(OH)(OTs)] was superior to that of Davis' reagent (PhCHONSO 2 Ph) 14 in producing 16, when investigating α-hydroxylation of tricycle 15. In the case of 7, however, Davies 10b found that the Davis' reagent was superior affording 17 in 53% yield. 10b Williams 11g found that a vastly improved protocol over both of the above procedures was the Rubottom oxidation 15 of 18 giving 19 in 80% yield (Scheme 2).With this knowledge in-hand the approach shown in scheme 3 toward 3-hydroxyvibsanin E (1) was taken. The stereospecfic cuprate addition product 10 8 was doubly deprotected to unmask the ketone and primary alcohol. Treatment of 20 with t-butyldimethylsilyl * c.williams3@uq.edu.au.
NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript Synthesis (Stuttg). Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 September 1. Figure 2), which occurred in high yield (71% over three steps) (Scheme 3).O-Allylation of the lithium enolate derived from 24 proceeded smoothly in 81% yield. The Claisen rearrangement occurred in only moderate yield to g...