Sakuranetin and selinone were successfully synthesized utilizing the regioselective deacetylation of naringenin triacetate. Deacetylation of the latter at C-7 with imidazole in 1,4-dioxane at 40°C furnished the corresponding diacetate in 80% yield. Methylation of the obtained free hydroxy group and subsequent removal of the remaining two acetyl groups gave sakuranetin, which was previously isolated as a phytoalexin against rice blast disease fungus, Pyricularia oryzae, in 71% overall yield. The same intermediate, naringenin triacetate, was subjected to transesterification with 2-propanol in tetrahydrofuran, catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B. A contrasting regioselective preference for C-4′ deacetylation was observed, giving an isomeric diacetate in 82% yield. Prenylation of the free hydroxy group under Mitsunobu conditions and subsequent deprotection furnished selinone, which was previously isolated from Monotes engleri and exhibits antifungal activity against Candida albicans, in 55% overall yield.
Key words flavanone; regioselective deprotection; lipase-catalyzed transesterificationPartially alkylated forms of flavanones are widespread in plants. Among them, sakuranetin (1b) (naringenin (1a) methylated at C-7) was first isolated from cherry tree bark as a sakuranin aglycone by Asahina in 1908, 1) and its antifungal activity was reported later.2) Recently, its additional antimutagenic 3) and antiinflammatory activities 4) were also demonstrated. Agricultural biology and chemistry constitute other fields for the application of 1b. Kodama et al. isolated 1b from UV-irradiated rice leaves as a phytoalexin against the pathogenic fungus Pyricularia oryzae, which causes rice blast disease, and also detected 1b in rice leaves infected with P. oryzae.
5)Selinone (1c) (naringenin prenylated at C-4′) was first isolated by Seshadri and Sood from Selinum vaginatum CLARKE, an endemic high-altitude Indian medicinal plant of the Umbelliferae family, locally known as "Bhootkeshi."
6)Later, it was also isolated from Monotes engleri, 7) a plant of the Dipterocarpaceae family in Zimbabwe, and showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans (Chart 1).Sakuranetin (1b) has previously been synthesized by methylation of naringenin (1a), as shown in Chart 2. The formation of 1b in 87% yield by methylation of 1a with dimethyl sulfate in acetone was reported.8) The formation of the regioisomeric monoether 1d under the above condition was also reported.
9)These results suggest that sakuranetin (1b) was isolated from a mixture of mono-and dimethylated products by silica gel column chromatography. Furthermore, it was shown that methylation of 1a by treatment with 1.5 eq of methyl iodide in N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) led to the formation of not only 1b (76%) but also dimethyl ether 1e (3%).10) To selectively methylate the C-7 hydroxy group, which is the most acidic of the three, 1a was treated with diazomethane solution in diethyl ether under almost neutral conditions, to give 1b in 75% yield after silica gel column chromatog...