Cette thèse est divisée en quatre parties. Une nouvelle méthodologie de substitution nucléophile directe d’alcools allyliques primaires (MBH) catalysée par le système bicatalytique Fe(III)/BF3 suivie d’une application à la synthèse des structures de type pyrrolidines à partir d’adduits de MBH a tout d’abord été développée. La seconde concerne l’étude de la stabilité ou de l’instabilité des réactifs allénylcuivres. Cette étude a permis de déduire une instabilité configurationnelle totale des allénylcuivres à une température réactionnelle aussi basse que -90°C ainsi que le rôle crucial du contre ion Li+ dans ce processus. Dans la troisième partie, un processus de dédoublement cinétique dynamique d’allényles cuivres préparés in-situ sur les aldéhydes et imines a permis la construction des dérivés aminoalcools homopropargyliques de façon très directe, efficace, diastéréoséléctive, énantiosélective et diversifiée. Dans la dernière partie, ces précurseurs aminoalcools homopropargyliques énantioenrichis synthétisés ont conduit aux dérivés cyclohexènes C-7 cyclitols par une métathèse cyclisante ényne catalysée par le catalyseur au ruthénium. Enfin, des perspectives de travail et une conclusion générale sont proposées. / This thesis is divided into four parts. A new methodology of direct nucleophilic substitution of primary alcohols of MBH adduct catalyzed by Fe (III) / BF3 bicatalytic system followed by an application to the synthesis of pyrrolidine derivatives from MBH adducts was first developed. The second part deals with the study of the configurational stability or instability of allenylcuprate reagents. This study allowed to elucidate a total configurational instability of the allenylcuprate species to temperatures as low as -90 °C. The crucial role of the Li+ counter-ion in this process was also demonstrated. In the third part, a dynamic kinetic resolution of allenyl copper species prepared in-situ upon addition to chiral aldehydes and imines allows the construction of homopropargylic aminoalcohol derivatives in a very direct, effective, diastereoselective, enantioselective and diversified process. In the last part, these homopropargylic enantioenriched aminoalcohols were converted to cyclohexene derivatives C-7 cyclitols by a ruthenium-catalyzed ring closing enyne metathesis (RCEYM).

The thesis entitled “Enantiospecific total synthesis of indole alkaloids eburnamonine, aspidospermidine, quebrachamine, henrycinols A and B and synthesis of azepino[4,5-b]indolones” is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter, a unified strategy for the enantiospecific total synthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids (+)-eburnamonine (1), (–)-aspidospermidine (2) and (–)-quebrachamine (3) is described. The chiral pool synthesis commenced with (S)-ethyl lactate 4, which was elaborated to the allylic alcohol 5. Johnson-Claisen orthoester rearrangement of the allylic alcohol 5 furnished the key chiral building block 6 possessing a quaternary stereogenic center. Pictet-Spengler cyclization of tryptamine with the corresponding aldehydes obtained by appropriate functionalization of the chiral building block 6 and ring closing metathesis were the key reactions employed en route the total synthesis of the indole alkaloids 1–3 (Scheme 1). Scheme 1. Unified strategy for the synthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids (+)-eburnamonine (1), (–)-aspidospermidine (2) and (–)-quebrachamine (3). The second chapter of the thesis pertains to the synthesis of azepino[4,5-b]indolones 7 via Brønsted acid mediated intramolecular cyclization of unsaturated tryptamides 8. Various ,-unsaturated acids 9 derived from different -hydroxy esters 10, were converted to the corresponding unsaturated tryptamides 8 and subjected to the optimized reaction conditions. The results of the study indicated that -substituted unsaturated secondary tryptamides derived from (S)-ethyl lactate were the most effective in undergoing an intramolecular cyclization to furnish the corresponding azepino[4,5-b]indolones 7, possessing a quaternary stereogenic center in good yields. The presence of an alkenyl moiety in the quaternary center allowed the functionalization of these compounds and was subsequently employed to access the ABCD core 11 of tronocarpine and the tetracyclic cores 12 of some iboga alkaloids. The loss of chirality in the formation of the azepino[4,5-b]indolones indicated that the reaction proceeds predominantly by an SN1 pathway. During the course of the study an interesting formation of an azonino[5,4-b]indolone 13 by a competing SN1 pathway and a tetracyclic azepino[4,5-b]indolone 14 via a cascade cyclization were noticed (Scheme 2). Scheme 2. Synthesis of azepino[4,5-b]indolones 7 possessing a quaternary stereogenic center. The first total synthesis of two new indole alkaloids, henrycinols A (15) and B (16) which were isolated from the plant Melodinus henryi CRAIB is described in the third chapter of the thesis. The key reaction in the synthetic sequence is the Pictet-Spengler cyclization of L-tryptophan methyl ester 17a and the aldehyde 18 derived from D-tartaric acid which leads to the installation of all the stereogenic centers present in the natural products. Interestingly, a switch in the diastereoselectivity of the reaction was observed by varying the substituent on the amine in L-tryptophan methyl ester 17. When L-tryptophan methyl ester 17b possessing an N-allyl substitution was employed, the desired 1,3-trans tetrahydro--carboline 19b could be obtained in good yields, which was subsequently elaborated to the natural products 15 and 16 (Scheme 3). Scheme 3. Total synthesis of henrycinols A (15) and B (16).