Faculty of Science; School of Chemistry; PhD Thesis / The synthesis of nitrogen containing ring systems has been one of the interests of this research group at the University of the Witwatersrand for a long time. These systems form part of a group of compounds called alkaloids, whose structural diversity is rivalled only by their distribution in nature. A small sub-set of the alkaloids is the fused 5 and 6 membered bicyclic frames with nitrogen at one bridgehead. Having developed a unique method of synthesising these indolizidine alkaloids, we examined various aspects of this methodology and there remained one crucial question – what is the best way to control the stereochemical outcome of the ring-forming steps? This project looks at this question from the view of a model natural product, the indolizidine alkaloids (+)- and (–)-tashiromine. The synthesis of tashiromine and related compounds was examined using chiral auxiliaries such as the Oppolzer sultam and the Evans oxazolidinone, as well as the use of chirally modified reductants. The efficacies of the chiral auxiliaries were studied using molecular modelling techniques, and certain modifications were suggested from these results.

Compounds containing the 2,3-dioxabicyclo[2.n.n] moiety, otherwise known as bicyclic endoperoxides, are a class of cyclic peroxides that are readily found in nature and can be utilized as important synthetic building blocks. The chemistry of endoperoxides has chiefly been concerned with the relative weakness of the peroxide bond, with comparatively little attention directed towards transformations of the alkene unit within these compounds. Therefore the focus of this thesis is on dihydroxylation of bicyclic endoperoxides and examination of their further utility. A broad range of 1,4-disubstituted-2,3-dioxabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-5-enes were synthesized featuring a variety of alkyl and aryl substituents. These compounds were subsequently dihydroxylated with osmium tetroxide to yield diols anti to the peroxide linkage, as single diastereomers, in excellent yields. Reduction of the peroxide bond afforded cyclohexane-1,2,3,4-tetraols of toxocarol relative stereochemistry in excellent yield; this configuration of hydroxyl groups is quite prevalent in nature. In order to demonstrate the synthetic scope of dihydroxylation of bicyclic endoperoxides followed by reduction of the peroxide linkage, tetraol formation from alkyl and aryl substituted diols was examined. It was confirmed that both alkyl and aryl substituents can be tolerated in the 1,4-positions. Dihydroxylation of endoperoxides containing H atoms at the 1,4-positions was also documented. The methodology of dihydroxylation followed by reduction of the peroxide linkage was employed to synthesize the reported natural product (1S,2R,3S,4R,5R)-2-methyl-5-(propan-2-yl)cyclohexane-1,2,3,4-tetrol in a short sequence from (R)-α-phellandrene. The 2,3-dioxabicyclo[2.2.2]octane-5,6-diols discussed above were also found to undergo an extremely clean rearrangement to yield 1,4-dicarbonyls and glycoaldehyde, a rearrangement not reported in the literature. The possible mechanism of this rearrangement was probed and is discussed in detail. The repercussions of diol orientation to product outcome were also investigated. Finally, the possibility of expanding the scope of synthetic application for this rearrangement, particularly the potential for synthesis of optically pure 1,4-dicarbonyls is discussed. Some preliminary results are reported. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Chemistry and Physics, 2009

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-219).

Theonellamide is a bicyclic peptide isolated from a marine sponge, which shows interesting biological activity. It contains several unnatural amino acids, among which are (2S,3R)-3-hydroxyasparagine (L-erythro-β-hydroxyasparagine) (β-OHAsn) and τ-L-histindino-D-alanine (τ-HAL). Although there were previous synthetic efforts toward each of these unnatural amino acids, the efforts were not ideal due to expensive starting material, time-consuming steps, and poor regioselectivity. The presented work demonstrates an inexpensive, enantioselective synthesis of β-OHAsn, which can be completed in a matter of weeks, as well as several attempts at a novel regiospecific approach toward τ-HAL, including work on a model study.

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The drawbacks of nonactin, the current commercial standard receptor for ammonium ion necessitate the development of new ammonium ionophores. We have designed and attempted to synthesize fluoroionophores, I- III. Molecular modeling of I suggests superior selectivity over that of nonactin. III was synthesized as a selective ionophore for optical detection of ammonium ion. The synthetic strategies for III are two-fold: solid phase and solution phase. Solution phase synthesis was performed with two different protecting groups (t-butyl ester and benzyl ester). A methyl-amino substituted anthracene molecule will be covalently coupled to the secondary amine group to provide an optical signaling moiety that operates on the basis of an“off-on" fluorescence emission mechanism. Compound IV was also synthesized in order to provide a sample reaction for the covalent coupling of the chromophore and to provide a fast route to an ammonium fluoroionophore.

Reaction of 3-sulfonyl acetamides with various substituted methyl acrylate derivatives furnished pyroglutamate and glutarimidess via [3+2] and [3+3] cycloaddition respectively. The results were applied to the synthesis of pyrrolizidine skeleton, tylophorine, cryptopleurine and fused bicyclic glutarimides.