Syn th esis of th e Azir id in om itosen e Sk eleton by In tr a m olecu la r
Mich a el Ad d ition of r-Lith ioa zir id in es: An Ar om a tic Rou te
F ea tu r in g Deu ter iu m a s a Rem ova ble Block in g Gr ou p
Edwin Vedejs* and J eremy D. Little
Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
edved@umich.edu
Received J uly 14, 2003
A convergent synthetic route to the 1,2-aziridinopyrrolo(1,2-a)indole 34 has been developed. Key
features of this route include the deuterium kinetic isotope effect to block undesired indole lithiation
during tin-lithium exchange from 27a to 30a , the intramolecular Michael addition to generate
the enolate 31a , and conversion into 34 by trapping with phenylselenenyl chloride. Reductive
cleavage of the N-trityl group in 34 allows access to tetracyclic aziridinomitosenes containing the
aziridine N-H subunit. Reduction of the C(9) ester in 34 with LAH gives the primary alcohol 35
with the correct C(9), C(9a), C(10) oxidation state corresponding to the aziridinomitosenes, and
deprotection of 34 affords 37.
The unusual oxygen-bridged benzoazocine antitumor
agents FR66979 (1) and FR900482 (2) form interstrand
DNA cross-links upon reductive activation.1,2 Solvolyti-
cally labile intermediates 5 and 6 are believed to explain
the activity,3 by analogy to the mode of action of mito-
mycin C.4 The semisynthetic 3 (FK973) is no longer
regarded as a promising drug candidate due to vascular
leak syndrome (VLS),5 but renewed interest in related
compounds has been stimulated by reports that the
closely related FK317 (4) retains activity, but does not
have the VLS side effect.6-8
thetic approaches to the tetracyclic skeleton of aziridi-
nomitosenes have been reported,10-26 including several
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10.1021/jo030223i CCC: $27.50 © 2004 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 01/15/2004
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J . Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 1794-1799