PHOTOCHEMICAL AND TITANIUM (II) MEDIATED METHODS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF COMPLEX MOLECULAR SCAFFOLDS

Abstract

Development of therapeutics is an extensive process, consuming significant amounts of time and requiring herculean synthetic efforts. A new therapeutic is most often designed from a previously commercialized scaffold, to increase the chance of success. Designing new molecular scaffolds can be extremely high risk and time consuming, yet at the same time the reward can be substantial. Accessing new molecular scaffolds, with efficient and “green” methods, is important in modern medicinal chemistry to diversify chemical space for therapeutic targets. There may be significant quantities of therapeutic candidates that have been over-looked due to synthetic challenges. There is a need for methodologies to synthesize challenging molecular scaffolds that are underexplored in commercialized therapeutics. The work described herein employs two distinct methodologies to access complex molecular scaffolds: 1) by developing a titanium (II) mediated Kulinkovich de-Meijere reaction arrested by Bredt’s rule and a suitable aryl sulfonyl moiety to afford diverse molecular scaffolds with potential for medicinal chemistry applications and 2) utilizing a [4 + 4] photocycloaddition of 2-pyridone-enolynes to access functionally rich cyclooctanoids that are capable of further photochemical transformations into even more complex molecular scaffolds. The titanium (II) mediated Kulinkovich reaction traditionally yields cyclopropylamines and cyclopropanols from amides and esters, respectively. The reaction involves two consecutive carbon-carbon bond forming steps. The bridged tricyclic intermediates would violate Bredt’s Rule and prevent the final carbon-carbon bond formation. This transformation can access a wealth of cyclic amino-ketones from olefin-tethered lactams. In addition, appropriate selection of an electron withdrawing group on nitrogen achieves the same bond sequestration. Interception of the titanafuran intermediate allows for electrophilic trapping of the titanium-carbon bond. The electronically arrested second carbon-carbon bond forming step adds generality to the interrupted Kulinkovich de-Meijere reaction to access the challenging molecular scaffolds of trans-α,α’-disubstituted cyclic ketones. Intramolecular [4 + 4] photoreaction of 2-pyridones with silyl 3-enol-1-ynes yields a highly reactive 1,2,5-cyclooctatriene. In the presence of a silanol proton source the allene is converted into a 1,3-diene. Without the combination of silyl 3-enol-1-ynes and silanol, as previously reported with 1,3-enynes, complex mixture of products is observed. Use of more nucleophilic solvents results in near quantitative yield of the cyclooctadienone through loss of silicon. Further photochemical manipulations of the cyclooctanoids allows for rapid scaffold diversification into bullvalene-like structures through a di-π-methane rearrangement.