Scalable Synthesis of a Key Intermediate for the Production of Pleuromutilin-Based Antibiotics

Enolates ambushed - asymmetric tandem conjugate addition and subsequent enolate trapping with conventional and less traditional electrophiles

Metal enolates are useful intermediates and building blocks indispensable in many organic synthetic transformations. Chiral metal enolates obtained by asymmetric conjugate additions of organometallic reagents are structurally complex intermediates that can be employed in many transformations. In this review, we describe this burgeoning field that is reaching maturity after more than 25 years of development. The effort of our group to broaden possibilities to engage metal enolates in reactions with new electrophiles is described. The material is divided according to the organometallic reagent employed in the conjugate addition step, and thus to the particular metal enolate formed. Short information on applications in total synthesis is also given.

Strategies to access the [5-8] bicyclic core encountered in the sesquiterpene, diterpene and sesterterpene series

Terpene compounds probably represent the most diversified class of secondary metabolites. Some classes of terpenes, mainly diterpenes (C20) and sesterterpenes (C25) and to a lesser extent sesquiterpenes (C15), share a common bicyclo[3.6.0]undecane core which is characterized by the presence of a cyclooctane ring fused to a cyclopentane ring, i.e., a [5-8] bicyclic ring system. This review focuses on the different strategies elaborated to construct this [5-8] bicyclic ring system and their application in the total synthesis of terpenes over the last two decades. The overall approaches involve the construction of the 8-membered ring from an appropriate cyclopentane precursor. The proposed strategies include metathesis, Nozaki-Hiyama-Kishi (NHK) cyclization, Pd-mediated cyclization, radical cyclization, Pauson-Khand reaction, Lewis acid-promoted cyclization, rearrangement, cycloaddition and biocatalysis.

Total Synthesis and Structure Revision of Halioxepine

The first total synthesis of halioxepine is accomplished using a 1,4-addition for constructing the quaternary center at C10 and a halo etherification for the generation of the tertiary ether at C7. The correct structure of halioxepine was determined by assembling different enantiomeric building blocks and by changing the relative configuration between C10 and C15.

Antibacterial properties and clinical potential of pleuromutilins

Covering: up to 2018Pleuromutilins are a clinically validated class of antibiotics derived from the fungal diterpene (+)-pleuromutilin (1). Pleuromutilins inhibit bacterial protein synthesis by binding to the peptidyl transferase center (PTC) of the ribosome. In this review we summarize the biosynthesis and recent total syntheses of (+)-pleuromutilin (1). We review the mode of interaction of pleuromutilins with the bacterial ribosome, which involves binding of the C14 extension and the tricyclic core to the P and A sites of the PTC, respectively. We provide an overview of existing clinical agents, and discuss the three primary modes of bacterial resistance (mutations in ribosomal protein L3, Cfr methylation, and efflux). Finally we collect structure-activity relationships from publicly available reports, and close with some forward looking statements regarding future development.

Directed C-H Bond Oxidation of (+)-Pleuromutilin

Antibiotics derived from the diterpene fungal metabolite (+)-pleuromutilin (1) are useful agents for the treatment Gram-positive infections in humans and farm animals. Pleuromutilins elicit slow rates of resistance development and minimal cross-resistance with existing antibiotics. Despite efforts aimed at producing new derivatives by semisynthesis, modification of the tricyclic core is underexplored, in part due to a limited number of functional group handles. Herein, we report methods to selectively functionalize the methyl groups of (+)-pleuromutilin (1) by hydroxyl-directed iridium-catalyzed C-H silylation, followed by Tamao-Fleming oxidation. These reactions provided access to C16, C17, and C18 monooxidized products, as well as C15/C16 and C17/C18 dioxidized products. Four new functionalized derivatives were prepared from the protected C17 oxidation product. C6 carboxylic acid, aldehyde, and normethyl derivatives were prepared from the C16 oxidation product. Many of these sequences were executed on gram scales. The efficiency and practicality of these routes provides an easy method to rapidly interrogate structure-activity relationships that were previously beyond reach. This study will inform the design of fully synthetic approaches to novel pleuromutilins and underscores the power of the hydroxyl-directed iridium-catalyzed C-H silylation reaction.

Scalable Access to Arylomycins via C-H Functionalization Logic

Arylomycins are a promising class of “latent” antibacterial natural products currently in preclinical development. Access to analogues within this family has previously required a lengthy route involving multiple functional group manipulations that is costly and time-intensive on scale. This study presents a simplified route predicated on simple C–H functionalization logic that is enabled by a Cu-mediated oxidative phenol coupling that mimics the putative biosynthesis. This operationally simple macrocyclization is the largest of its kind and can be easily performed on gram scale. The application of this new route to a formal synthesis of the natural product and a collection of new analogues along with their biological evaluation is also reported.

Development of a Modular Synthetic Route to (+)-Pleuromutilin, (+)-12-epi-Mutilins, and Related Structures

We describe the development of an enantioselective synthetic route to (+)-pleuromutilin (1), (+)-12-epi-mutilin, and related derivatives. A key hydrindanone was prepared in three steps and 48% overall yield from cyclohex-2-en-1-one. 1,4-Hydrocyanation provided a nitrile (53%, or 85% based on recovered starting material) that was converted to the eneimide 57 in 80% yield by the 1,2-addition of methyllithium to the nitrile function, cyclization, and in situ acylation with di-tert-butyldicarbonate. The eneimide 57 was employed in a 2-fold neopentylic coupling reaction with an organolithium reagent derived from the alkyl iodides (R)- or (S)-30, which contain the C11-C13 atoms of the target, to provide diastereomeric diketones in 60% or 48% yield (for coupling with (R)- or (S)-30, respectively). The diketone derived from (S)-30 contains the (S)-C12 stereochemistry found in pleuromutilin and was elaborated to an alkynylaldehyde. Nickel-catalyzed reductive cyclization of this alkynylaldehyde, to construct the eight-membered ring of the target, unexpectedly provided a cyclopentene (67%), which arises from participation of the C12-α-olefin in the transformation. The diketone derived from the enantiomeric C12-fragment (R)-30 underwent reductive cyclization to provide the desired product in 60% yield. This was elaborated to 12-epi-mutilin by a four-step sequence (39% overall). Installation of the glycolic acid residue followed by C12 epimerization (Berner et al. Monatsh. Chem. 1986, 117, 1073) generated (+)-pleuromutilin (1). (+)-12-epi-Pleuromutilin and (+)-11,12-di-epi-pleuromutilin were prepared by related sequences. This work establishes a convergent entry to the pleuromutilins and provides a foundation for the production of novel antibiotics to treat drug-resistant and Gram-negative infections.