H. Fujioka et al.
to produce a bromolactone intermediate. However, because
alkyl substituted olefins were found not to be appropriate
substrates for the bromolactonization reaction, an alterna-
tive route employing the phenyl substituted alkenoic acid 19
as a key intermediate was selected for the synthesis of tani-
kolide (Route b).
The concise synthetic sequence used to prepare tanikolide
is illustrated in Scheme 8. Initially, d-keto-ester 5a was
transformed into the alkenoic acid 19 by using a Wittig ole-
route described above, is negative. This observation there-
fore shows that the absolute configuration of the quaternary
carbon center in bromolactone 20 is S, a configuration that
is in accord with those found in products of previously re-
ported asymmetric bromolactonization reactions of exo ole-
fins. Other bromolactones described in this manuscript were
assigned the same configuration by analogy.
Conclusion
In the investigation described above, we have expanded tri-
simidazoline 1 catalyzed asymmetric bromolactonization re-
actions of alkenoic acids to include internal olefins as sub-
strates. In particular, (Z)-olefins were found to be suitable
substrates for these processes, giving products in high yields
and with high levels of enantioselectivity. The applicability
of the asymmetric bromolactonization process to the synthe-
sis of chiral spirocyclic lactones was also demonstrated. Fi-
nally, a concise total synthesis of (À)-tanikolide was ach-
ieved by using the developed reaction as a key step. This
constitutes, to the best of our knowledge, the first example
of an organocatalytic asymmetric halolactonization reaction
employed in natural product synthesis. We believe the meth-
odology developed in this effort will serve as a valuable tool
for the synthesis of a wide range of functionalized chiral lac-
tone derivatives.
Scheme 8. Total synthesis of tanikolide.
fination and base-mediated hydrolysis protocol. The mixture
of geometric isomers of 19 (Z/E=20:1) was subjected to
asymmetric bromolactonization to give the bromolactone 20
in good yield. Radical reduction with nBu3SnH and AIBN
was used to remove the bromine to afford the corresponding
lactone 21 in 91% yield. At this stage, the enantiomeric
excess (ee) of lactone 21 was determined to be 90% (HPLC
analysis). The final steps in the synthesis of tanikolide in-
volved transformation of the phenyl into a hydoxymethyl
group. Thus, the benzene moiety in 21 was oxidized to the
corresponding carboxylic acid 22 by using RuCl3/NaIO4.[19]
One-pot mixed anhydride formation with 22 and reduction
using NaBH4 led to generation of the alcohol moiety in the
target tanikolide in 52% yield from 21. The enantiomeric
purity of tanikolide was determined from its benzoyl ester
to be 90% ee, an observation that suggests that racemization
does not occur in the last two steps of the synthetic route.
Although the results of several studies focusing on the syn-
thesis of tanikolide have already been reported, the alterna-
tive approach described here features a novel method to
generate d-lactones containing a quaternary carbon. In addi-
tion, this is the first strategy developed for synthesis of this
natural product that relies on an asymmetric organocatalytic
halolactonization reaction.
Experimental Section
Typical procedure for the bromolactonization; (S)-6-[(S)-1-Bromoprop-
yl]-6-phenyltetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-one (15a): A solution of ene-carbox-
ylic acid 2a (66.6 mg, 0.305 mmol) and trisimidazoline
1 (22.3 mg,
0.0305 mmol) in toluene (6.1 mL) was stirred for 10 min at RT and the re-
sulting solution was cooled to À408C. DBDMH (87.3 mg, 0.305 mmol)
was then added in one portion to the solution and the reaction mixture
was stirred at À408C for 12 h. Upon completion, the reaction was
quenched with sat. aq. Na2S2O5 at À408C, and the organic layer was ex-
tracted with EtOAc. The extracts were washed with brine, dried with
Na2SO4, and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by SiO2
column chromatography (hexane/AcOEt=2:1) to give 15a (83.5 mg,
92%) as colorless oil; [a]D19 =À4.09 (c=0.92, CHCl3, 88% ee); 1H NMR
(400 MHz, CDCl3): d=7.49–7.47 (m, 2H), 7.40–7.31 (m, 3H), 4.08 (dd,
J=11.6, 2.0 Hz, 1H), 2.73 (dt, J=14.8, 4.0 Hz, 1H), 2.46–2.30 (m, 2H),
2.20 (ddd, J=17.2, 12.8, 4.8 Hz, 1H), 1.98–1.94 (m, 1H), 1.88–1.80 (m,
1H), 1.65–1.59 (m, 1H), 1.30–1.21 (m, 1H), 0.96 ppm (t, J=7.2 Hz, 3H);
13C NMR (100.5 MHz, CDCl3): d=170.4, 138.3, 128.5, 128.4, 126.8, 87.8,
66.4, 29.4, 29.0, 25.9, 16.2, 12.9 ppm; IR (KBr): n˜ =2968, 1736, 1449, 1240,
1043 cmÀ1; HRMS (FAB): m/z calcd for C14H17BrO2: 297.0490 [M+H]+;
found: 297.0497; HPLC (DAICEL CHIRALCEL OJ; hexane/iPrOH=
92:8; flow rate=1.0 mLminÀ1
; 210 nm): Rt =23.8 (major), 29.7 min
(minor).
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Re-
search (B) and for Young Scientists (B) from JSPS.
The optical rotation of natural tanikolide is reported to
be positive and the absolute configuration of the quaternary
carbon center in the natural product is known to be R. In
contrast, the optical rotation of tanikolide, prepared by the
8452
ꢀ 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, 8448 – 8453