Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

The phytoalexin resveratrol and its acetyl analogs have been made using a decarbonylative Heck reaction. The acid chloride derived from 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid was coupled with suitable protected 4-hydroxystyrene in the presence of palladium acetate and N,N-bis-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-4,5-dihydro imidazolium chloride to give the substituted stilbene in good yield as the key step. Human HL-60 cell assays showed the 4'-acetyl resveratrol variant improved activity (ED50 17 μM) relative to resveratrol (24 μM). Cinchona phase-transfer catalysts (PTC) were developed for glycolate aldol reactions to give differentially protected 1,2-diol products. Silyl enol ether of diphenylmethoxy-2,5-dimethoxyacetophenone reacted to generate benzhydryl-protected products. O-Allyl trifluorobenzyl cinchonium hydrodifluoride (20 mol %) catalyzed the addition of the silyl enol ether to benzaldehyde to give aldol product as a single syn-product in 76% yield and 80% ee. Recrystallization enriched the product to 95% ee, and a Baeyer-Villiger reaction transformed the product into useful ester intermediates. A novel unnatural product, 8,9-Methylamido-Geldanamycin, has been designed and synthesized. Using a convergent route, the total synthesis of the molecule involved only 27 longest linear steps. New synthesis methodologies, including auxiliary controlled asymmetric anti-glycolate aldol, syn-norephedrine aldol, and selective p-quinone formation, were used.

L’organocatalyse est reconnue comme une approche attractive dans la synthèse énantiosélective, offrant de nombreux avantages par rapport à la métallo-catalyse et biocatalyse. Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés dans le développement de nouveaux catalyseurs tropos de transfert de phase, basée sur les dérivés de dibenzazepinium et leurs applications en synthèse asymétrique. Nous avons mis en évidence la possibilité d’utiliser le principe de transfert de chiralité centrale-axiale. La deuxième partie de cette thèse a été consacrée à l'élaboration de méthodologies organocatalytiques en utilisant la catalyse par transfert de phase ou de base de Brønsted. Notre nouvelle approche, basée des réactions organocatalytiques de cycloaddition formelles [3 + 2], ouvre l'accès aux différents cycles chiraux comme des cyclopentènes, pyrrolidines ou isoxazolidinones. Toutes ces molécules sont potentiellement intéressantes pour leur évaluation comme des ligands bioactif. / Organocatalysis is recognized as a versatile and attractive tool in enantioselective synthesis, offering a number of advantages over metal-based and bioorganic methods. During the first part of this thesis, we were interested in development of novel tropos Phase-Transfer catalysts, based on the dibenzazepinium derivatives and their applications in asymmetric synthesis. Their design was tackled by anoriginal central-axial chirality transfer principal. The second part of this thesis was devoted to the elaboration of novel organocatalytic methodologies under chiral PTC or Brønsted base organocatalysis. Based on formal organocatalytic [3+2]cycloaddition reactions our novel approach opens the access to various chiral cycles like cyclopentenes, pyrrolidines or isoxazolidinones. All these molecules are potentially interesting for their evaluation as bio-ligands.