Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

The inverse demand hetero Diels-Alder reaction has been shown to be catalysed by commercially available, air-sensitive lanthanide Lewis acid catalysts such as Yb(fod)₃ . To date there have been no reported examples of enantioselective Lewis acid catalysed reactions of ethyl vinyl ether with crotonaldehyde, the inverse demand hetero Diels-Alder reaction of interest. This Diels-Alder reaction yields dihydropyran products which are key in the synthesis of a number of natural product target molecules, such as carbohydrates. The lack of stereospecificity achieved with known chiral NMR shift reagents has been attributed to fluxional behaviour of the ligands on the large lanthanide metal centre. This lack of conformational rigidity was proposed to be controlled by the use of sterically demanding C₃ symmetric multidentate ligand systems. By carefully designing a suitable ligand system the binding of the crotonaldehyde moiety in the Lewis acid catalysed reaction was anticipated to occur with facial selectivity, resulting in enantioselective Diels-Alder products. It was determined that lanthanide complexes of fluorinated β-diketone ligands with sufficiently low pKa's effectively catalyse the desired inverse demand hetero Diels-Alder reaction. These functionalities were incorporated into a multidentate, achiral, C₃ symmetric ligand system which upon lanthanide complexation was shown to be an air-stable efficient Lewis acid catalyst. Two chiral C₃ symmetric ligand systems were also prepared but were shown to be unsuitable for lanthanide substitution due to insufficiently robust functionalities present in the ligand framework, such as sulfonyl esters and Molecular modelling studies of these ligand systems reveal that the incorporation of camphor into the ligand framework is ideal for the preparation of a facially selective aldehyde binding site. Thus, concluding work probed other possible ligand functionalities which would result in camphor containing, chiral, C₃ symmetric ligand systems that are stable as lanthanide Lewis acid complexes. This new class of ligand promises to be of interest as chiral C₃ symmetric ligand systems for substitution on lanthanide metal centres have yet to be reported. This work summarises several useful synthetic strategies for the preparation of chiral C₃ symmetric ligands in multigram quantities. The application of these higher order symmetry ligands in enantioselective catalysis remains an important area of research. / Graduate

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No description available.

The structures of Diels-Alder cycloaddition of cyclopentadiene to 2,6-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone and methylcyclopentadiene to 2,6-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone were assigned by analysis of 1-D and 2-D proton and carbon-13 NMR spectra. The structures of the cycloadduct of methylcyclopentadiene to 2,6-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone and that of the corresponding intramolecular [2+2] photocyclization product were also obtained by single crystal X-ray structural analysis. As the second part of the study, a new polycyclic "cage" molecule, a substituted trishomocubane isomer, was synthesized. In this synthesis, reductive bond cleavage followed by Dieckmann condensation was employed. Wolff-Kishner reduction then was used to convert a β-keto ester "cage" molecule to the corresponding carboxylic acid. A compound that possesses twofold symmetry was isolated from reaction product mixture. The structure of this compound has been established by single crystal X-ray crystallography.

In Part 1, the Diels-Alder adducts of trimethyl cyclopentadienylstannane (I.3) with maleic anhydride and fumaronitrile are prepared in 61% yield. The molecular structure of the adduct with maleic anhydride (1.6) is unequivocally established as 7-syn-trimethy1stannyl-endo- bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-enyl-2,3-dicarboxy1ic anhydride by single crystal X-ray structure analysis. In Part II, the high yield preparation of some new S-a1ky1-Saryl- N-p-toluenesu1fonylsu1foximines, by ruthenium tetroxide oxidation of the corresponding su1filimine, is described. Dehydrochlorination of S-chloroethy1-N-p-toluenesu1fonyl-S-p-toly1su1foximine and its S-phenyl analog with triethylamine gives the previously unknown N-p-to1uenesu1fony1- S-p-to1y1-S-viny1sulfoximine (II.17) and its S-phenyl analog. The Diels-Alder reaction of II.17 with a variety of 1,3-dienes and the known N-phtha1imido-S-p-tolyl-vinylsu1foximine (11.14) and the previously unreported S-p-nitropheny1-N-phtha1imido-viny1su1foximine (11.39) with cyclopentadiene are described. All of the reactions give mixtures of the possible adducts. The configuration of the major diastereomer (II.19d) of the adducts of II.14 with cyclopentadiene is known from a single crystal X-ray structure analysis. The structures of the other adducts are determined by ¹H NMR spectroscopic analysis. Chemical correlation of II.19d with the adducts of II.17 with cyclopentadiene confirm the assignment made by ¹H NMR. A competition Die1s-Alder reaction between II.17 and p-toly1-viny1sulfone shows that the vinylsulfoximine is more reactive. Sodium amalgam reduction of the cyclohexadienyl adducts of II.17 gives bicyclo[2.2.2Joctene and hydrazine in allyl alcohol reduction of adduct II.19d gives the corresponding sulfoxide II.20d.

Graduate

No description available.

Due to the ever increasing demand for the production of enantiopure drugs and biologically active compounds, the study of asymmetric synthesis and the production of more efficient and cost effective methods of obtaining chiral compounds suggests that there are expanding opportunities for Organic Chemists in this field. Of the broad range of chiral technologies available today for the synthesis of even the most complex multi-centre chiral molecules, the use of chiral auxiliaries continues to remain an important means of obtaining single enantiomer chiral compounds. In this investigation, the imidazolidinone chiral auxiliary (i) was synthesised in order to determine its efficiency and ability to transfer chiral information in Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions. The products of such reactions are extensively used in the synthesis of natural compounds and pharmaceutical drugs. The synthesis of the imidazolidinone auxiliary is described and mention is made of the fact that the starting materials are cheap and readily available in both enantiomeric forms. The pathway involves only a single reaction that is easily carried out in moderate yields of 60-65%. An adaptation of this auxiliary is the cyclohexyl derivative (ii) which was obtained in a single hydrogenation step of (i) in very high yields (98%). This was compared to the synthesis of the bornane-1O,2-sultam auxiliary (ii). Although the starting materials are also cheap and readily available, there are more reaction steps involved. The synthesis of the imidazolidinone auxiliary proved to be much more simple as well as more time and cost effective. The huge advantage of these auxiliaries is the fact that they are both crystalline which facilitates their purification and that of their derivatives. A possible deficiency of the imidazolidinone auxiliary and the bornane-1O,2-sultam auxiliary was the fact that substitution reaction yields with various a,b-unsaturated acyl chlorides were consistently low (<50%). A major by-product of the acylation reaction was a 'double-adduct' compound that severely affected the reaction yields. This was overcome by employing a new method of acylation developed during the course of this research. It involves the use of DABCO as base with reaction yields between 60 and 98%. In addition to this, reaction conditions were mild and work up procedures simple. The N-acylimidazolidinone auxiliary proved to be extremely successful in Diels-Alder reactions with cyclopentadiene With results equalling those obtained with the well known and highly publicised bornane-10,2-sultam auxiliary. The scope of the N-acylimidazolidinone auxiliary in these reactions included the use of a- and b- substituted dienophiles. Although reactions with a-methyl and b-methyl substituted dienophiles were successful, the auxiliary proved to be unreactive with b-phenyl and b,b-dimethyl substituted dienophiles. The scope of dienes used was extended to include the relatively less reactive isoprene and 2,3-dimethyl-l,3-butadiene. Only the former reacted successfully in Diels-Alder reactions with the N-acylimidazolidinone auxiliary. Crystallinity was imparted to all the products except for the cyclohexyl derivative whose cycloaddition adducts only solidified on standing. The Diels-Alder adducts were successfully cleaved under standard reaction conditions to give products with ee's ranging from 95:5 to 99:1. This investigation also includes the use of the tertiary amine, DABCO, as a catalyst in the Diels-Alder reaction with, specifically, the N-acryloylimidazolidinone chiral auxiliary. Most examples of Diels-Alder reactions involve the use of Lewis acids as a means of improving the rate and selectivity of Diels-Alder reactions. DABCO not only increased the reactivity of the N-acryloylimidazolidinone auxiliary towards cyclopentadiene, but selectivity was also observed. An explanation was put forward as to the mechanism of the reaction as well as to the source of selectivity. Selectivity was much more pronounced in Diels-Alder reactions with the N-acryloylimidazolidinone auxiliary than with the N-acryloylbornane-10,2-sultam auxiliary. It was predicted that DABCO catalysed reactions are amenable to large scale procedures. Due to the fact that the diastereomeric cycloadducts are easily purified by recrystallization or chromatography, and together with the practical advantages and mild reaction conditions this could render the DABCO methodology with the N-acryloylimidazolidinone auxiliary industrially viable. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

Nosso grupo de pesquisa já vem há alguns anos estudando métodos para a síntese do núcleo estrutural dos furanoeliangolidos, mais especificamente do goiazensolido. A estrutura básica deste composto corresponde a um sistema 7-oxabiciclo [6.2.1] undecano, e ele possui atividades biológicas como esquistossomicida, citotóxica e antiinflamatória. Em nosso trabalho utilizamos como etapa chave a reação de Diels-Alder, que é geralmente eficiente e rápida para formação de sistemas policíclicos. Na ultima etapa da proposta sintética, propomos a clivagem da ligação interna do sistema policíclico para obtenção do macrociclo desejado. / Our research group has been studying, for some years, new methods for the synthesis of the core structure of the furanoheliangolides, more specifically of goyazensolide. The basic structure of this compound is a 7-oxabicyclo [6.2.1] undecane system, and it shows biological activities such as schistosomicidal, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory. In this work, we have used the Diels-Alder reaction as a key step, since it is usually fast and efficient for the synthesis of polycyclic structures. As a last step, we proposed that the cleavage of the internal bond of the rings should furnish the desired macrocycle.