With these successful results in hand, our next attention focused
on the domino reaction of the cyclic nitrone (¡)-2 with the acyl
donors 7a,b aimed at the effective asymmetric total synthesis of
Table 1 Lipase-catalyzed domino reactions of (¡)-2 and 7a,b in
MeCN
Amount of
CAL-B
a
(
2)-rosmarinecine 10, a typical necine-base-portion of some
Entry
7
Conditions
5
(S)-2
10
natural alkaloids such as rosmarinine (Scheme 3). In contrast
b
1
7a 150 wt%
7a 150 wt%
7b 150 wt%
7b 300 wt%
7b 300 wt%
7b 300 wt%
7b 300 wt%
30 uC, 12 h 5a 89% ee, 27% trace
to the case of 6, the reaction of (¡)-2 was somewhat problematic.
b
c
2
0 uC, 12 h 5a 92% ee, 53% 73% ee, 43%c
0 uC, 8 h 5b 94% ee, 49% 77% ee, 33%
10 uC, 17 h 5b 86% ee, 69% trace
5 uC, 12 h 5b 91% ee, 60% 96% ee, 28%
5 uC, 11 h 5b 90% ee, 60% 99% ee, 30%c
5 uC, 11 h 5b 92% ee, 58% 95% ee, 23%
b
b
First, although a similar reaction of (¡)-2 with 7a in toluene, as
i
3
b
4
well as other solvents such as THF and Pr O, at 30 uC gave the
2
b
5
expected cycloadduct 5a as a single diastereomer, the enantios-
electivity was low (up to 60% ee). Second, the decomposition of 2
was observed, probably via its competitive intermolecular dipolar
cycloaddition to 7a. These problems were solved using MeCN at
d
6
d
7
a
Weight% of commercial CAL-B to (¡)-2. Carried out using
purified 7 (1.5 equiv.). Substrate amount was 50 mg.
yield. Carried out by the one-pot procedure; for details, see ESI.
Substrate amount was 40 mg for entry 6 and 1.0 g for entry 7.
c 1
H NMR
d
0
uC. Thus, the enantioselectivity was improved (Table 1, entry 1)
and the side reactions were sufficiently depressed at 0 uC to give 5a
92% ee, 53% yield) and the recovered (S)-2 (entry 2). In a similar
(
identical reaction conditions using the same ratio of (¡)-2, 3b,
CAL-B, and the solvent, the reactions of (¡)-2 (40 mg and 1.0 g)
afforded similar results (entries 6 and 7).
manner, the reaction of (¡)-2 with the ethyl ester 7b afforded 5b
with a slightly better enantioselectivity (94% ee, 49% yield)
(entry 3).
Finally, the asymmetric total synthesis of (2)-rosmarinecine 10
was attained as follows: a recrystallization of 5b (92% ee) from a
mixture of hexanes and EtOAc afforded the optically pure 5b [43%
yield from (¡)-2]. Hydrogenolysis of 5b gave 14 (.99% ee based
To our surprise, partial racemization of the remaining (S)-2 was
observed during these reactions. Thus, the optical purity of (S)-2
should be almost the same as that of the products 5 at about 50%
conversion; however, it was always lower (entries 2 and 3). Among
the intensive studies to achieve the domino reaction with a
dynamic kinetic resolution by changing the temperature, the
amount of the lipase, and some additives, the reaction using CAL-
B (300 wt%) at 10 uC for 17 h afforded 5b (86% ee, 69% yield)
23
on chiral HPLC analysis using Daicel Chiralpak AD-H), [a]
4a
D
2
7
+
89.4 (c 5 0.36, abs. EtOH) [lit. [a] +94.2 (c 5 0.31, abs.
D
EtOH)]. The Red-Al reduction of 14 (.99% ee), according to
4a
Goti’s paper, afforded (2)-rosmarinecine 10 in 90% yield. The
1
physical properties and the H and C NMR data of the
13
(entry 4) and that at 5 uC for 12 h gave 5b (91% ee, 60% yield)
synthesized 10 showed good agreement with those of the natural
10
(entry 5). Similar to the above-mentioned studies using pure 7a,b,
24
compound: mp 167–170 uC, [a]D 2117.7 (c 5 0.98, EtOH) [lit.
the more convenient one-pot procedure, including the preparation
21
mp 168–170 uC, [a]D 2119.8 (c 5 1.01, EtOH)]. Because we
prepared (¡)-2 from commercially available (¡)-11 (45% overall
11
of 7b from 3b and the enzymatic domino reaction of (¡)-2, gave
5b with the same optical and chemical yields (entry 6). This
yield) in 3 steps, the total synthesis of (2)-10 was achieved in
method was scarcely affected by the reaction scale and was suitable
for multigram synthesis of chiral products. For instance, under
6
steps with a 9.6% overall yield from (¡)-11 (Scheme 3).
Although the asymmetric total synthesis of (2)-10 had already
been reported by three groups, all of them used optically active
substrates as either the starting material or as a chiral
4,10,12
auxiliary.
Our method features the first catalytic asymmetric
total synthesis of (2)-10 starting from the commercially available
racemic material (¡)-11, the fewest steps, and the highest overall
yield. The acceleration of the racemization of the alcohol (S)-2 to
attain more effective dynamic kinetic resolution is now under
13
investigation in our laboratory.
This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific
Research, (S) 13853010 and (C) 15590005, from the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and, Technology, Japan.
Roche Diagnostics K. K., Japan is thanked for the generous gift of
the lipase.
Shuji Akai, Kouichi Tanimoto, Yukiko Kanao, Sohei Omura and
Yasuyuki Kita*
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, 1-6,
Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
E-mail: kita@phs.osaka-u.ac.jp; Fax: (+81) 6-6879-8229
Notes and references
1
For recent reviews, see: K. V. Gothelf and K. A. Jørgensen, Chem. Rev.,
1998, 98, 863; H. M. Osborn, N. Gemmell and L. M. Harwood,
J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1, 2002, 2419.
t
Scheme 3 Reagents and conditions: a, Me
Na WO , H , Et NCl, CH Cl –H
tylene, [RuCl (p-cymene)] (0.5 mol%), acetone; ii) CAL-B, MeCN; e,
Pd(OH) , H , MeOH; f, Red-Al, THF.
2
BuSiCl, imidazole, MeCN; b,
2
4
2
O
2
4
2
2
2
O; c, CsF, MeOH; d, i) ethoxyace-
2
For some examples of the asymmetric total syntheses of biologically
important compounds, see: (a) H. Ooi, A. Urushibara, T. Esumi,
Y. Iwabuchi and S. Hatakeyama, Org. Lett., 2001, 3, 953; (b)
2
2
2
2
2
370 | Chem. Commun., 2005, 2369–2371
This journal is ß The Royal Society of Chemistry 2005