A general strategy for the production of pyrrolizidine alkaloids is described, starting from intermediate (+)-9. The key features are diastereoselective dihydroxylation, inversion at the ring junction by hydroboration of an enamine, and ring closure to form the bicyclo ring system. This route is attractive because of its brevity and versatility; four natural products were prepared with differing stereochemistry and substitution patterns. Finally, this work allowed assignment of the absolute stereochemistry of 2,3,7-triepiaustraline and hyacinthacine A 7.

[reaction: see text] The first synthesis of the pyrrolidinone core of the polyene beta-lactone antibiotic KSM-2690 B is described. An ammonia-free Birch reductive aldol reaction utilizing acetaldehyde is one of the key steps, together with a ruthenium-catalyzed alkene isomerization reaction.

The partial reduction of N-Boc pyrroles has been explored giving stereoselective routes to disubstituted pyrrolines in good yields and with excellent diastereoselectivities. A novel methodology has been developed to carry out reductive aldol reactions on 2-substituted N-Boc pyrroles; use of aldehydes under reductive aldol conditions gave the anti aldol product in good selectivity. This chemistry was used as the key transformation in a synthesis of omuralide, which was achieved in 13 steps and 14% overall yield. We also report a methodology for selectively forming either cis or trans 2,5-disubstituted pyrrolines via a partial reduction of an electron-deficient N-Boc pyrrole. The trans pyrroline formed using this route was utilized in the syntheses of the polyhydroxylated pyrrolizidine natural products hyacinthacine A1 and 1-epiaustraline. Further investigation has led to the development of routes to enantiopure substituted pyrroline compounds. This has been achieved via a chiral protonation approach using easily accessible chiral acids, such as ephedrine and oxazolidinones, to quench enolates formed during the partial reduction process. Alternatively, enzymatic desymmetrization of symmetrical diol compounds formed from the partial reduction products of substituted pyrroles is also reported. This leads to formation of both enantiomers of 2,2- and 2,5-disubstituted N-Boc pyrrolines in excellent ee and yields.

The partial reduction of electron-deficient pyrroles using either Birch (Li/NH(3)) or ammonia-free (Li/di-tert-butyl biphenyl) conditions allows formation of pyrroline compounds in good yield and, when combined with a reductive alkylation or similar approach, leads to highly functionalized, synthetically useful compounds. This methodology has been proven in the syntheses of several complex natural products, all of which show interesting biological activity. This protocol describes in detail the following stages of the partial reduction procedure: formation of the reducing solution, partial reduction of the pyrrole compound and finally quench of the resulting anion/dianion using either protonating agents or an aldehyde. The ammonia-free conditions described herein are particularly useful for reactions requiring the use of reactive electrophiles, such as acid chlorides or enolizable aldehydes, which are incompatible with the standard Birch reduction conditions. The reaction procedure for the ammonia Birch reduction (procedure A) takes about 9.5 h to complete. Those described for the ammonia-free reductions, procedure B and procedure C, can be expected to take approximately 33 and 8 h, respectively.

This paper reports a study into the partial reduction of N-alkylpyridinium salts together with subsequent elaboration of the intermediates thus produced. Activation of a pyridinium salt by placing an ester group at C-2, allows the addition of two electrons to give a synthetically versatile enolate intermediate which can be trapped with a variety of electrophiles. Furthermore, the presence of a 4-methoxy substituent on the pyridine nucleus enhances the stability of the enolate reaction products, and hydrolysis in situ gives stable dihydropyridone derivatives in good yields. These versatile compounds are prepared in just three steps from picolinic acid and can be derivatised at any position on the ring, including nitrogen when a p-methoxybenzyl group is used as the N-activating group on the pyridinium salt. This publication describes our exploration of the optimum reducing conditions, the most appropriate N-alkyl protecting group, as well as the best position on the ring for the methoxy group. Electrochemical techniques which mimic the synthetic reducing conditions are utilised and they give clear support for our proposed mechanism of reduction in which there is a stepwise addition of two electrons to the heterocycle, mediated by di-tert-butylbiphenyl (DBB). Moreover, there is a correlation between the viability of reduction of a given heterocycle under synthetic conditions and its electrochemical response; this offers the potential for use of electrochemistry in predicting the outcome of such reactions.