A concise approach to a family of potent herbicidal 10-membered lactones is described on the basis of ring-closing metathesis (RCM) as the key step for the formation of the medium-sized ring. This includes the first total syntheses of herbarumin I (1) and II (2) as well as the synthesis of several possible macrolides of the pinolidoxin series. A comparison of their spectral and analytical data with those of the natural product allowed us to establish the stereostructure of pinolidoxin, a potent inhibitor of induced phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity, as shown in 46. This finding, however, makes clear that a previous study dealing with the relative and absolute stereochemistry of this phytotoxic agent cannot be correct. An important aspect from the preparative point of view is the fact that the stereochemical outcome of the RCM reaction can be controlled by the choice of the catalyst. Thus, use of the ruthenium indenylidene complex 16 always leads to the corresponding (E)-alkenes, whereas the secon...

Total syntheses of the phytotoxic lactones herbarumin I and II and a synthesis-based solution of the pinolidoxin puzzle.

Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and biological properties of new natural aldehydes thiosemicarbazones

Although the Burgess reagent (methoxycarbonylsulfamoyltriethylammonium hydroxide, inner salt) has found significant use in chemical synthesis as a dehydrating agent, almost no work has been directed towards its potential in other synthetic applications. As this article will detail, we have found that the Burgess reagent is remarkably effective at accomplishing a number of non-dehydrative synthetic tasks when applied to appropriate substrates, such as the formation of sulfamidates from 1,2-diols or epoxyalcohols, alpha- and beta-glycosylamines from carbohydrates, and cyclic sulfamides from 1,2-aminoalcohols. Beyond delineating the power of these new reaction manifolds, we also describe the construction of a group of alternative Burgess-type reagents that extends the scope of these new reactions even further.

New Uses for the Burgess Reagent in Chemical Synthesis: Methods for the Facile and Stereoselective Formation of Sulfamidates, Glycosylamines, and Sulfamides

An efficient approach for the synthesis of a variety of C-aryl and spiro-C-aryl glycosides is described. This diversity-oriented strategy employed here relies on a sequential enyne metathesis to generate the 1,3-diene moiety and Diels–Alder reaction with different dienophiles followed by aromatisation. Whereas cross-enyne metathesis with ethylene gas is used to install the 1,3-diene moiety at the anomeric centre for the synthesis of C-aryl glycosides, an intramolecular enyne metathesis on the sugar enyne is performed to generate the 1,3-diene moiety for the synthesis of spiro-C-aryl glycosides. Efforts to extend this strategy to the synthesis of the core structure of natural C-aryl glycoside gilvocarcin are also described. A combination of both C-aryl and spiro-C-aryl glycosides in the same moiety to combine the features thereof has also been accomplished. A tandem enyne metathesis/Diels–Alder reaction/aromatisation has also been attempted to directly access the C-aryl glycosides in one pot albeit in low yield.

Application of an enyne metathesis/Diels-Alder cycloaddition sequence: a new versatile approach to the syntheses of C-aryl glycosides and spiro-C-aryl glycosides.

Chemical synthesis of shikimic acid and its analogues

A simple and efficeint synthesis of protected D-ribonolactone, a key chiral precursor used in the syntheses of neplanocin A and cyclopentenylcytosine from readily available D-ribose is reported

Ronald S. Michalak

Papers

A Convenient Large Scale Synthesis of Protected D-Ribonolactone From D-Ribose