. 70, 817 (1992).The synthesis of the eudesmanolide torrentin ( I ) by sensitized photooxygenation of synthetic dihydrosantamarine (3) is reported. Both dihydrosantamarine and dihydroreynosin (11) were obtained from the 1,2-epoxide 9, which, in turn, was prepared from the diselenide 7. An improved procedure for the synthesis of the elemanolide saussurea lactone (4) is also reported.Key words: eudesmanolide, elemanolide, santonin, torrentin, saussurea lactone.GONZALO BLAY, LUZ CARDONA, BEGONA GARC~A et JOSE R. PEDRO. Can. J. Chem. 70, 817 (1992) On rapporte la synthkse de I'eudesmolide de torrentine (1) par une photo-oxygtnation de la dihydrosantamarine de synthkse (3). On a obtenu a la fois la dihydrosantamarine et la dihydroreynosine (11) Torrentin is an eudesmanolide isolated a few years ago ( I ) procedure for the synthesis of saussurea lactone (4) from from Artemisia herba-alba subsp. vulentina, and whose santonin (2). The sesquiterpene lactones, which constitute structure has been revised recently (2). This paper reports on an important group of natural compounds widely distribthe synthesis of torrentin (1) from santonin (2) via a multiuted in the family Compositae, have received much attenstep reaction sequence involving dihydrosantamarine (3) as tion because of their biological activities (3). an intermediate product. It also contributes an improved Dihydrosantamarine (3) was synthesized previously (4) from the dihydrocostunolide (5) and, more recently, by an 1 1-step refunctionalization ( 5 ) of the A ring of santonin (2). We synthesized dihydrosantamarine (3) via a shorter synthetic pathway by applying a new selective transformation of diselenide 7 to the 1,2-epoxide 9. The conversion of dihydrosantamarine (3) into torrentin (1) involved the sensitized photooxygenation of the 3,4-double bond of the former as a key step (6).We used the diol-lactone 6 as starting product, which was prepared from santonin (2) according to Grieco ( 7 ) , i.e., by '~u t h o r to whom correspondence may be addressed.
Rinled In Canadahydrogenation and epimerization (8) at C4, formation of the corresponding tosylhydrazone and a Shapiro reaction (9), and, finally, the ozonolysis of the 2,3-double bond followed by reduction with sodium borohydride. Our strategy was based on the synthesis of the 1,2-epoxide 9 from the diol6 by oxidation-elimination of the diselenide 7 and the simultaneous epoxidation of the resulting double bond. Inasmuch as the elimination of the C2 selenoxide should be faster (10) than that of the C3 selenoxide, the yield of epoxide 9 must be more favourable than that of 10 in relation to those obtained by epoxidation (3) of saussurea lactone (4).With the above ideas in mind, we addressed the synthesis Can. J. Chem. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by 54.245.13.81 on 05/11/18For personal use only.