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An efficient and practical method for the synthesis of (9R,14R,17R)-FE399, a novel antitumor bicyclic depsipeptide, was developed. A 2-methyl-6-nitrobenzoic anhydride (MNBA)-mediated dehydration condensation reaction was effectively employed for the formation of the 16-membered macrocyclic depsipeptide moiety of FE399. FE399 was found to exist as an inseparable equilibrium mixture of conformational isomers; the mixture was quantitatively transformed into the corresponding S-benzyl product and isolated as a single isomer. Thus, we could confirm that the molecular structure of FE399 obtained by this method is identical to that of the natural product.

The first total synthesis of the proposed structure of astakolactin, a sesterterpene metabolite isolated from the marine sponge Cacospongia scalaris, has been achieved, mainly featuring Johnson–Claisen rearrangement, asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reaction and MNBA-mediated lactonization.

A Lewis acid-mediated three-component coupling reaction was successfully applied for the synthesis of lasofoxifene (1), nafoxidine (2), and their positional isomers, inv-lasofoxifene (3) and inv-nafoxidine (4). In the presence of HfCl4, the desired one-pot coupling reaction among 4-pivaloyloxybenzaldehyde (5), cinnamyltrimethylsilane (6), and anisole proceeded to afford the corresponding 3,4,4-triaryl-1-butene 7 in high yield. The iodocarbocyclization of the coupling product and the successive elimination of hydrogen iodide forming the olefin part, followed by the migration of the double-bond afforded the common synthetic intermediate of lasofoxifene (1) and nafoxidine (2) via a very concise procedure. Additionally, the syntheses of their positional isomers inv-lasofoxifene (3) and inv-nafoxidine (4) were also achieved through very convenient protocols.

[reaction: see text] The first asymmetric total synthesis of EI-1941-1, -2, and -3, inhibitors of the interleukin-1beta converting enzyme (ICE), has been accomplished, starting from a chiral epoxy iodoquinone 11, a key intermediate in our total synthesis of epoxyquinols A and B. Despite a failure to synthesize the inhibitors by our postulated biosynthetic route, we were able to diastereoselectively synthesize them via an intramolecular carboxypalladation with the key steps being a 6-endo cyclization mode followed by beta-hydride elimination. The investigation of the biological properties of EI-1941-1, -2, and -3 and their derivatives disclosed them to be potent and effective ICE inhibitors with less cytotoxicity than EI-1941-1 and -2 in a cultured cell system.

[Chemical reaction: See text] The asymmetric aldol reaction of a tetra-substituted ketene silyl acetal including an alkylseleno group with aldehydes has been developed by the promotion of Sn(OTf)2 coordinated with a chiral diamine to afford the corresponding aldols having chiral quaternary centers at the alpha-positions. The facile oxidative deselenization of these aldol compounds produces optically active alpha-methylene-beta-hydroxy esters which correspond to adducts prepared by the asymmetric Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction.

Efficient methods for the synthesis of carboxylic esters and lactones using benzoic anhydrides by the promotion of Lewis acid or basic catalyst is accounted in this paper. Various carboxylic esters are prepared in high yields through the formation of the corresponding mixed anhydrides from 4-(trifluoromethyl) benzoic anhydride (TFBA) and carboxylic acids in the presence of Lewis acid catalyst. Several macrolactones and medium-sized lactones are also prepared from the corresponding hydroxycarboxylic acids by the combined use of TFBA and an acidic species under the mild reaction conditions. Furthermore, a variety of carboxylic esters or lactones are obtained at room temperature in excellent yields with high chemoselectivities from nearly equimolar amounts of carboxylic acids and alcohols, or hydroxycarboxylic acids using 2-methyl-6-nitrobenzoic anhydride (MNBA) with basic promoters. These methods are successfully applied to the synthesis of 8-membered ring lactone moieties of cephalosporolide D, and octalactins A and B.

A variety of optically active 1-heteroarylalkanols and their esters, which include heteroaromatic moieties, such as 2-furyl, 2-thienyl, 3-thienyl, 2-thiazoyl, 2-benzothiazoyl, and 2-benzoxazoyl gro...

Various β-lactones were prepared from β-hydroxycarboxylic acids by intramolecular dehydration condensation using MNBA, an effective coupling reagent, along with a nucleophilic catalyst. The transition state that provides the desired 4-membered ring model system is disclosed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and the structural features of the transition form are discussed. This method was successfully applied to the asymmetric total synthesis of tetrahydrolipstatin (THL), an antiobestic drug used in clinical treatment to inhibit the activity of pancreatic lipase.

[Structure: see text] The total synthesis of pseudo 2-epibotcinolide (1b) through several featured synthetic approaches has been attained. First, the chiral linear precursors of the nine-membered ring compound is stereoselectively constructed by the asymmetric aldol reaction for producing beta-hydroxy ester units. Second, the key cyclization reaction to form the nine-membered lactone moiety is efficiently achieved by the extremely facile and powerful mixed-anhydride method promoted by 2-methyl-6-nitrobenzoic anhydride (MNBA) with basic promoters.

Various carboxylic esters are obtained at room temperature in excellent yields with high chemoselectivities from nearly equimolar amounts of carboxylic acids and alcohols using 2-methyl-6-nitrobenzoic anhydride with triethylamine by the promotion of a basic catalyst such as 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine. A variety of lactones are also prepared in high yields at room temperature from the corresponding omega-hydroxycarboxylic acids with use of 2-methyl-6-nitrobenzoic anhydride in the presence of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine. A similar reaction occurs with triethylamine when using a catalytic amount of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine 1-oxide as an effective promoter for the intramolecular condensation reaction. These methods are successfully applied to the synthesis of erythro-aleuritic acid lactone and an eight-membered-ring lactone moiety of octalactins A and B. The efficiency of the cyclizations is compared to those of other reported lactonizations.

An oxidative dimerization reaction, involving the three successive steps of oxidation, 6 pi-electrocyclization, and Diels-Alder reaction, has been experimentally and theoretically investigated for the three 2-alkenyl-3-hydroxymethyl-2-cyclohexen-1-one derivatives epoxyquinol 3, epoxyquinone 6, and cyclohexenone 10. Of the sixteen possible modes of the oxidation/6 pi-electrocylization/Diels-Alder reaction cascade for the epoxyquinone 6, and eight for the cyclohexenone 10, only the endo-anti(epoxide)-anti(Me)-hetero and endo-anti(Me)-hetero modes are, respectively, observed, while both endo-anti(epoxide)-anti(Me)-hetero and exo-anti(epoxide)-anti(Me)-homo reaction modes occur with the epoxyquinol 3. Intermolecular hydrogen-bonding is found to be the key cause of formation of both epoxyquinols A and B with 3, although epoxyquinone 6 and cyclohexenone 10 both gave selectively only the epoxyquinol A-type product. In the dimerization of epoxyquinol 3, two monomer 2H-pyrans 5 interact with each other to afford intermediate complex 28 or 29 stabilized by hydrogen-bonding, from which Diels-Alder reaction proceeds. Theoretical calculations have also revealed the differences in the reaction profiles of epoxyquinone 6 and cyclohexenone 10. Namely, the rate-determining step of the former is the Diels-Alder reaction, while that of the latter is the 6 pi-electrocyclization.