No description available.

(3aR)-14a-Acetoxy-3aß,4,14,14aa-tetrahydro-6,7,8-trimethoxybenzo[3,4]furo[3',4':6,7]cycloocta[1,2-f][1,3]benzodioxol-3(1H)-one (steganacin), 56, has been a popular synthetic target due to its perceived cytotoxic activity. Our proposed strategy for the construction of the key 8-membered ring embedded within steganacin was via an oxidative phenolic coupling of an appropriate (3R,4R)-4-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-ylmethyl)-3-benzyldihydrofuran-2(3H)-one analogue which were shown to be readily available from commercially available piperonal in six linear steps involving chain extension, reduction, trichloroacetylation and cyclisation via a copper-catalysed Atom Transfer Radical Cyclisation (ATRC) reaction. In this way, copper-catalysed ATRC reaction of (E)-6-(benzo[d][7’,9’]dioxol-1’-yl)allyl-1,1,1-trichloroacetate afforded (R)-4-{(R)-benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-ylchloromethyl}-3,3-dichlorodihydrofuran-2(3H)-one in good isolated yield as a mixture of diastereosiomers. Regiospecific functionalisation of these trihalides at the benzylic position (via an SN1, solvolysis, pathway), followed by dehalogenatioin and subsequent enolate alkylation afforded the key butyrolactone intermediates whose oxidative cyclisation was the key bond construct in our approach to steganacin. Contrary to our expectations it was observed that these substrates suffer intramolecular Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions, favouring a 3a,4,9,9a-tetrahydronaphtho[2,3-c]furan-1(3H)-one (6 member ring) formation, rather than phenolic oxidative coupling reactions that would favour the steganacin-like (3aR,11aR,Z)-3a,4,11,11a-tetrahydrobenzo[4,5]cycloocta[1,2-c]furan-1(3H)-one (8 member ring) formation, when the oxidant has any Lewis acid capacity. Taking these observations into account we believe that by judicious choice of synthetic route the ATRC chemistry developed during the current research could be applied to a highly convergent (9 step) route to the synthesis of deoxypodophylotoxin.This work also describes, in detail, the efforts of this worker to establish and optimise a robust route that potentially can lead to the formation of steganacin via the alternative route of an initial microwave-assisted Pd-mediated biaryl coupling of either bromopiperonal or an halogenated derivative of the described γ-butyrolactones with an appropriate boronic acid derived from commercially available 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzalcohol to afford the biaryl scaffold present in steganacin. The completion of this synthesis was unfortunately left unaccomplished due to time constraints.

Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit ont eu pour but d’étudier le « couplage aryne », une technique de synthèse qui produit des biaryles sans l’intervention de métaux de transition, grâce à la réaction entre deux intermédiaires réactionnels générés in situ : un aryllithien nucléophile et un aryne électrophile. Les travaux réalisés ont consisté en l’optimisation de la version diastéréosélective du couplage, ensuite appliquée à la synthèse formelle de la (-)-stéganacine. Dans un second temps, les premières études sur la version énantiosélective du couplage ont été réalisées, en introduisant des ligands chiraux à la réaction et en évaluant l’influence de différents paramètres réactionnels. Les premiers excès énantiomériques ont ainsi été obtenus, parfois accompagnés de la formation de divers sous-produits, parmi lesquels des dérivés de biphénylène. Devant l’intérêt que représentent ces composés, une partie des travaux a été consacrée à leur synthèse par dimérisation des arynes. / This work consisted in the study of the “aryne coupling”, a transition-metal free process to access biaryl moieties, which involves the reaction between two in situ generated intermediates: a nucleophilic aryllithium derivative and an electrophilic aryne. This work resided in the optimization of the atropoenantioselective version of the aryne coupling and its application to the formal synthesis of (-)-steganacin. We then moved to the atropoenantioselective version of the reaction, by introducing chiral ligands in the reaction mixture, which aim was to coordinate the aryllithium species and to transfer their chiral information to the biaryl axis. After optimization of various reaction parameters, some enantiomeric excesses were obtained as well as various side products in some cases, among which biphenylene derivatives. According to the potential applications of these compounds, another part of this work was dedicated to their synthesis by means of aryne dimerization reactions.