RESEARCH
| REPORTS
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Fig. 3. Selenium dioxide-mediated A-ring oxidation. In the presence of water, SeO2-mediated
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activated 4 Å MS at 110°C for 9 hours provided
18 in 33 to 35% 1H-NMR yield, and vinyl triflate
19 in 28% isolated yield over two steps. Despite
the modest yield, this sequence accomplishes the
stereospecific incorporation of three oxygen atoms,
proceeds with an average efficiency of ~70% yield
per transformation, and fares well in comparison
to conceivable multiple step protocols to achieve
the same reactivity. Although the precise mech-
anism of the SeO2-mediated oxidation remains
unclear at this time, investigations are ongoing
and should aid the development of a more
efficient protocol.
The concise synthesis of (+)-ryanodol described
here proceeds in only 15 synthetic steps (0.42%
overall yield) from (S)-pulegone (10), fewer than
half the steps of the previously disclosed syntheses
by Deslongchamps et al. (37 linear steps, 0.23%
yield) and Inoue et al. (35 linear steps, 0.008%
yield). The efficiency of our approach derives
from the development of a direct and scalable
route to key cyclopentenone 17, which can be
prepared on a multigram scale in only eight steps
and rapidly elaborated to (+)-anhydroryanodol.
The strategic use of C–O bond–forming reac-
tions minimizes redox adjustments and the use
of protecting groups. Indeed, the five alcohols
found in (+)-3 are incorporated with just two
transformations: the dihydroxylation of 10 and
the SeO2-mediated oxidation of enone 17. More-
over, all but the C3-alcohol are introduced with
the correct carbon oxidation level. We anticipate
that the brevity of the synthesis will render fea-
sible the design and preparation of ryanoid de-
rivatives for studying RyR function.
In the final stages of the synthesis, advance-
ment of 19 to (+)-anhydroryanodol was achieved
by a three-step sequence. Palladium-catalyzed
cross-coupling between 19 and tributyl(2-propenyl)
stannane installed the final three carbons, de-
livering 20 in 64% yield. LiBH4-mediated 1,2-
reduction stereoselectively furnished the C3
alcohol, which was subjected to H2 and Pd(OH)2/
C to simultaneously reduce the disubstituted
olefin and remove the benzyloxymethyl groups,
providing (+)-3 in 61% yield over two steps.
Using this route, we have prepared >400 mg
of (+)- anhydroryanodol to date. Conversion of
this material to (+)-ryanodol was achieved via a
slight modification of Deslongchamps’s two-step
protocol (28). Treatment of 3 with trifluoroper-
acetic acid, freshly prepared from trifluoroacetic
anhydride and urea hydrogen peroxide (in place
of the originally reported concentrated hydro-
gen peroxide), cleanly afforded epianhydrorya-
nodol epoxide in 86% yield. Subjection of this
material to Li0 in NH3 (distilled from Na0) at
–78°C resulted in reductive cyclization to pro-
duce (+)-2 in 38% yield (lit. 60% yield). In our
hands, the reaction profile was highly dependent
on the purity of the ammonia. Specifically, in-
dependent control reactions conducted with
ammonia condensed directly from the gas cyl-
inder, or using redistilled ammonia with either
added H2O (10 equiv.), or exogenous Fe-salts
(45), revealed that these parameters all substan-
tially affect the ratio of 2 to carbonyl-reduction
products, as well as the formation of minor
unidentified degradation products.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The California Institute of Technology Center for Catalysis and
Chemical Synthesis is gratefully acknowledged for access to
analytical equipment. We thank S. Virgil and J. Hofstra for
assistance in obtaining x-ray–quality crystals and solving the
structure of 15, respectively. M. Takase and L. Henling are
acknowledged for acquiring the x-ray diffraction data for
15 (CCDC deposition no. 1478621; the data are available free of
charge from The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre).
M. Kieffer is gratefully acknowledged for critical feedback and
helpful suggestions. Fellowship support was provided by the
National Science Foundation (graduate research fellowship to
K.V.C., grant DGE-1144469) and the Shenzhen UV-ChemTech Inc.
(postdoctoral fellowship to C.X.). S.E.R. is an American Cancer
Society Research Scholar and Heritage Medical Research
Institute investigator. Financial support from the NIH (National
Institute of General Medical Sciences grant RGM097582-01),
Eli Lilly, and Novartis is gratefully acknowledged. The California
Institute of Technology has filed a provisional patent on
this work (application no. 62/269,760).
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SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
Materials and Methods
Schemes S1 and S2
Tables S1 to S9
References (46–53)
NMR Spectra
9 May 2016; accepted 25 July 2016
10.1126/science.aag1028
SCIENCE sciencemag.org
26 AUGUST 2016 • VOL 353 ISSUE 6302 915