Re2O7-Catalyzed Approach to Spirocyclic Ether Formation from Acyclic Precursors: Observation of Remote Stereoinduction

Recent Advances in the Prins Reaction

The Prins reaction is a very convenient synthetic platform for the preparation of oxygen-containing heterocyclic compounds, especially tetrahydropyrans and tetrahydrofurans. While this reaction has been extensively used by synthetic chemists since its discovery, the last years have witnessed impressive improvements in its performance and scope and especially in the development of new catalytic and enantioselective versions. This mini-review presents these recent advances through selected representative examples.

Direct activation of alcohols via perrhenate ester formation for an intramolecular dehydrative Friedel–Crafts reaction

A general and highly efficient intramolecular dehydrative Friedel–Crafts reactions via Re2O7 mediated hydroxyl group activation is described for the syntheses of tetrahydronaphthalene, tetrahydroquinoline, tetrahydroisoquinoline, chromane, and isochromane derivatives.

Solvent Effects and Mechanistic Studies for Re2O7-Catalyzed Allylative Annulation Reactions

The sequence of allylic alcohol transposition, carbonyl group trapping, oxocarbenium ion formation, and nucleophilic addition results in the formation of a ring while serving as a fragment-coupling and stereocenter-generating reaction. Successful applications of these processes require a balancing of the kinetics of numerous productive and unproductive steps. This work describes the manner in which solvent changes can be used to expand the scope and change the stereochemical outcomes of these processes. Mechanistic studies provide greater insight into the nuances of the transformations and the reactive species that are generated.

Recent synthetic strategies toward the synthesis of spirocyclic compounds comprising six-membered carbocyclic/heterocyclic ring systems

Spirocyclic compounds fascinate the synthetic chemists due to their privileged ring system and efficacy in drug discovery. Many natural compounds comprise spirocyclic moiety in their skeleton and are effective in pharmaceutical industry. Over the years, many synthetic methodologies have been established for the construction of spirocyclic compounds. In this review, recent synthetic approaches to accessing various spirocompounds comprising six-membered carbocycles/heterocycles have been summarized.

Perrhenate Esters as Intermediates in Molecular Complexity-Increasing Reactions

Allylic alcohols form perrhenate esters upon reaction with Re2O7 or HOReO3. These species undergo nonstereospecific and nonregiospecific alcohol-transposition reactions through cationic intermediates. Sequencing these nonselective processes with reversible trapping by electrophiles results in cyclization reactions where regio- and stereocontrol are dictated by thermodynamics. The cationic intermediates can also be utilized as electrophiles in intra- or intermolecular dehydrative reactions with nucleophiles. These processes serve as the basis for applications in catalytic syntheses of a wide range of heterocyclic and carbocyclic structures that often show considerable increases in molecular complexity. This Account describes a sequence of events that started from a need to solve a problem for the completion of a natural product synthesis and evolved into a central element in the design of numerous new transformations that proceed under mild conditions from readily accessible substrates.

1 Introduction

2 Exploratory Studies

3 Application to Spiroketal Synthesis

4 Reactions with Epoxides as Trapping Agents

5 Development of Dehydrative Cyclizations

6 Bimolecular Reactions

7 Spirocyclic Ether Formation

8 Conclusions

Dictating Thermodynamic Control through Tethering: Applications to Stereoselective Bis-Spiroketal Synthesis

Approaches to stereocontrol that invoke thermodynamic control fail when two or more potential products are energetically similar, but rational structural perturbations can be employed to break the energetic degeneracy and provide selective transformations. This manuscript illustrates that tethering is an effective approach for the stereoselective construction of bis-spiroketals with thermodynamically similar stereoisomers, providing a new approach to set remote stereocenters and prepare complex structures that have not previously been accessed stereoselectively.