Palladium-Catalyzed Synthesis of Ketenimines from Isocyanides and Synthetic Studies Towards the Total Synthesis of Mersilongine

In the first chapter of this thesis, the development of two new reactions for the synthesis of vinyl ketenimines and alpha-oxo-ketenimines from isocyanides is presented. These palladium-catalyzed transformations both feature an isocyanide insertion / beta-hydride elimination sequence. Vinyl ketenimines were generated from allyl carbonates and were then hydrolyzed to beta,gamma-unsaturated carboxamides or converted to 1,5-disubstituted tetrazoles by treatment with hydrazoic acid. alpha-Oxo-ketenimines were efficiently prepared from alpha-halocarbonyl compounds with broad functional group tolerance and their reactivity profile was investigated. This led to the development of a one-pot three-component synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant tetrasubstituted 5-aminopyrazoles and to the synthesis of beta-ketoamidines in high yields.

In the second chapter, synthetic studies towards the total synthesis of the alkaloid Mersilongine are presented. An advanced intermediate containing the quinolinic / bridged aminal core of this natural product was synthesized from vanillin in 20 steps. Three key transformations were successfully exploited or developed in this synthetic sequence : 1) A high yielding Tsuji-Trost reaction to create two adjacent tertiary carbon centers with high diastereoselectivity, 2) a substrate-controlled fully diastereoselective alpha-allylation of a lactone to form a quaternary center, 3) the first application of the iORC sequence for the synthesis of a quinolinic scaffold having three contiguous chiral centers. (iORC = integrated Oxidation / Reduction / Cyclization)

Copper-Catalyzed 1,2-Methoxy Methoxycarbonylation of Alkenes with Methyl Formate and Synthetic Studies Towards the Total Synthesis of Koumine, Voacafricine A and Voacafricine B

Balázs Budai

The development of an unusual oxidative alkene difunctionalization using methyl formate and syn-thetic studies towards alkaloid natural products provide the basis of the thesis. The first chapter details the development of a method that forges methoxycarbonyl radical direct-ly from its most accessible precursor: methyl formate. Although the aforementioned transfor-mation was documented in the literature, no synthetically useful method was developed at the time. We were able to identify conditions that transform methyl formate and simple styrene de-rivatives to value added ï¢-methoxy alkanoates and cinnamic acid derivatives under copper cataly-sis. We also demonstrated that by tethering nucleophilic moieties to the styrene substrates, we could access medicinally important heterocycles such as pyrrolidines, tetrahydrofurans and ï§-lactones. Our method proved to be scalable on each classes of substrates. Mechanistic studies re-vealed that methyl formate has an unprecedented double role in the transformation. It acts as a precursor for methoxycarbonyl radical; furthermore, it is the direct source of the ï¢-methoxy func-tion in the synthesis of ï¢-methoxy alkanoates. A ternary ï¢-diketiminato-Cu(I)-styrene complex, fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallographic analysis is capable of catalyz-ing the same transformation. We hypothesize that pre-coordination of electron-rich double bond to copper might play an important role in the polarity-mismatched addition between nucleophilic methoxycarbonyl radical and electron rich olefins. Synthetic studies toward the total synthesis of koumine is discussed in the second chapter. Our synthetic strategy features an oxidative ring closing, Fukuyama indole synthesis and an enantiose-lective Diels-Alder cycloaddition for the construction of the core of koumine skeleton. We designed a rapid route to access 1,2-dihydropyridine derivatives and these compounds were examined as dienes in the Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction. Despite our efforts, we were unable to effect the [4+2] cycloaddition, which eventually lead us to decide to discontinue our campaign. In chapter three, our synthetic efforts toward voacafricine A and voacafricine B is presented. In our pursuit towards the natural products, we devised and followed a divergent and potentially en-antioselective strategy. We successfully developed a synthetic route to reach the key intermediate in five steps. Despite our efforts, we were not able to construct the remaining F ring of the natural product. Our conformational analysis of advanced intermediates suggest that epimerization of the C14 stereocenter potentially unlocks the desired reactivity and enables us to reach the target mol-ecules. Work towards the total synthesis of voacafricine A and voacafricine B is underway and may focus on the conformational manipulation of advanced intermediates to allow the elaboration of the F ring and complete the synthesis.

EPFL2020

Total Synthesis of Alstilobanine C, Undulifoline and Alstilobanine B

Nicolas David Gaeng

The total synthesis of pentacyclic monoterpene indole alkaloids is the focus of this thesis. Total syntheses of (±)-alstilobanine C, (±)-undulifoline and (±)-alstilobanine B, three natural products from the Ulean family of alkaloids, were accomplished. The characteristic features of our synthesis included: a) a domino sequence involving a highly diastereoselective Michael addition followed by chemoselective C-acylation of the resulting enolate by Mander¿s ester; b) an unprecedented Lewis acid mediated intramolecular addition of enolate to oxonium, generated in situ from MOM protective group; c) a sequence of chemoselective reduction/indolization/intramolecular aza-Michael addition. This domino process afforded directly the (±)-alstilobanine C, a pentacyclic monoterpene indole alkaloid in 87% yield. Reductive N-methylation of (±)-alstilobanine C provided (±)-undulifoline which, upon N-oxidation, was further converted to (±)-alstilobanine B. Enantioselective total synthesis of the same natural products through a different synthetic route is presented. After exploring different unsuccessful strategies, an enzymatic desymmetrization of a meso compound was adopted for the synthesis of enantioenriched cyclopentenone intermediate. Applying the two domino sequence developed previously, namely, Michael addition/C-acylation and oxepane formation, an efficient synthesis of the oxobicyclo[4.2.1]nonane was realized. A palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative cross-coupling, a methodology developed in our group, afforded an advanced bicyclic intermediate with all the carbon and functional groups needed to accomplish the total synthesis. However, conversion of the vinyl group to alkylazide or its synthetic equivalent proved to be difficult in spite of the efforts dedicated to this seemingly trivial transformation.

EPFL2018

Isocyanoacetates as Synthetic Platform Towards Natural Products and Biologically Relevant Scaffolds

Thomas Bertrand Pascal Marie Buyck

My PhD work started with the development of a racemic access to trigonoliimine B, an hexacyclic alkaloid isolated in 2010. After having explored different strategies, we reported a 7-step synthesis of this natural product. This synthesis features a challenging and unprecedented Bischler-Napieralski reaction for the formation of a 7-membered ring with the concurrent creation of an exocyclic imine at the last step. The choice of sulfolane as solvent for this transformation was critical to the success. Aiming at upgrading our synthesis towards an enantioselective version, we developed an enantioselective synthesis of α-quaternary α-amino acids. The Michael addition between α-aryl isocyanoacetates and phenyl vinyl selenone catalyzed by a quinine derivative affords enantioenriched Michael adducts. Due to the nature of the functional groups, these adducts are easily transformed to useful scaffolds such as pyrrolidinones and oxindoles. We also demonstrated the synthetic utility of this transformation by using it for the enantioselective total synthesis of (+)- and (-)-trigonoliimine A. With the idea to further demonstrate the efficiency of this reaction for natural product synthesis, we are trying to develop the first total synthesis of (+)-hinckdentine A. Finally, during our investigations on the Michael adduct, we observed the formation of 1,3-oxazinan-2-one. We implemented an integrated one-pot process to access biologically relevant 1,3-oxazinan-2-one. We also studied the reaction mechanism demonstrating an unprecedented triple role of phenyl selenonyl group as an electron withdrawing group, a leaving group and a latent oxidant.

EPFL2014

Copper-Catalyzed 1,2-Methoxy Methoxycarbonylation of Alkenes with Methyl Formate and Synthetic Studies Towards the Total Synthesis of Koumine, Voacafricine A and Voacafricine B

Balázs Budai

EPFL2020