113. Analogs of Cinchona alkaloids incorporating a 9,9′-spirobifluorene moiety

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/hlca.19960790509

The Cinchona alkaloid analogs (+)- and (-)-5 with a quinuclidine-2-methanol residue attached to C(2) of a 9,9′-spirobifluorene moiety were prepared as a racemic mixture by reacting lithiated 2-bromo-9,9′-spirobifluorene 7 with (2-ethoxycarbonyl)quinuclidine (±)-6 to give ketone (±)-8, followed by diastereoselective reduction with diisobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAL-H). The absolute configuration at C(9) and C(8), i.e., at the methanol bridge and the adjacent quinuclidine C-atom, in the two enantiomers of 5 is identical to the configuration at the corresponding centers in (-)-quinine (1) and (+)-quinidine (2), respectively. For the optical resolution of (±)-5, a chiral stationary phase for HPLC was prepared by covalently bonding quinine via a thiol spacer to a silica-gel surface. The enantiomer separation was accomplished at an a value of 1.61 with (±)-5 being eluted last, in agreement with ¹H-NMR studies in CDCl₃ which showed that (+)-5 underwent a more stable host-guest association with quinine than (-)-5. ¹H{¹H} Nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) difference spectroscopical analysis of the host-guest associations with quinine in CDCl₃, combined with computer-model examinations, allowed the assignment of the absolute configurations as (+)-(8R,9S)-5 and (-)-(8S,9R)-5. A detailed conformational analysis displayed excellent agreement between the results of computational methods (Monte Carlo multiple minimum simulations, analyses of the total energy as a function of the flexible dihedral angles in the molecule) and ¹H{¹H}-NOE difference spectroscopical data. It was found that (-)-5 and (+)-5 differ significantly in their conformational preference from their natural counterparts quinine (1) and quinidine (2) Whereas the natural alkaloids prefer the 'open' conformation, with the quinuclidine N-atom pointing away from the quinoline ring, analog (±)-5 adopts preferentially (by ca 4 kcal mol^-1) a 'closed' conformation, in which the quinuclidine N-atom points into the cleft of the 9,9′-spirobifluorene moiety. Since the basic quinuclidine N-atom in the 'closed' conformation is sterically shielded from forming strong H-bonds, the new Cinchona alkaloid analogs form less stable host-guest associations via H-bonding than quinine or quinidine.