A potent dopamine
(D
2
) receptor agonist (±)-quinagolide,
which is used for the treatment of hyperprolactinemia, was synthesized
using the ring closing metathesis (RCM) approach from
meta
-hydroxybenzaldehyde as the starting material. The key features of
this synthesis are pyrolytic elimination, late-stage expedient synthesis
of functionalized trans-fused tetrahydropyridine-3-carboxylates from
olefin
6
, via conjugate addition–elimination upon
acetate
11
, followed by RCM and phenyliodine bis(trifluoroacetate)
(PIFA)-mediated Hofmann rearrangement of piperidine-3-carboxamide,
which enables the synthesis of 3-aminopiperidine skeleton of quinagolide.
For the total synthesis of natural products such as ergot alkaloids,
late-stage synthesis of functionalized trans-fused tetrahydropyridine-3-carboxylates
using RCM and PIFA-mediated Hofmann rearrangement of piperidine-3-carboxamide,
which allows quick access to the synthetically challenging 3-aminopiperidine
skeleton, are the main achievements of the present work.