The successful application of dihydropyrido[1,2-a]indolone (DHPI) substrates in Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation chemistry facilitates rapid access to multiple alkaloid frameworks in an enantioselective fashion. Strategic bromination at the indole C3 position greatly improved the allylic alkylation chemistry and enabled a highly efficient Negishi cross-coupling downstream. The first catalytic enantioselective total synthesis of (−)-goniomitine, along with divergent formal syntheses of (+)-aspidospermidine and (−)-quebrachamine are reported herein.
Graphical Abstract
Magnum (DH)PI:The successful application of dihydropyrido[1,2-a]indolone (DHPI) substrates in Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation chemistry facilitates rapid access to multiple alkaloid frameworks in an enantioselective fashion. The first catalytic enantioselective total synthesis of (−)-goniomitine, along with divergent formal syntheses of (+)-aspidospermidine and (−)-quebrachamine are reported herein.Keywords total synthesis; allylic alkylation; asymmetric catalysis; Aspidosperma alkaloids; quaternary centers Monoterpene indole alkaloids have been extensively studied by chemists and biologists alike due to their vast structural diversity and broad biological activity. 1 (−)-Goniomitine (1), isolated from the bark of Gonioma malagasy, is an Aspidosperma alkaloid with a unique octahydroindolo[1,2-a][1,8]naphthyridine core (Figure 1). 2 The key structural differences
Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript between goniomitine (1) and many Aspidosperma alkaloids (e.g., 2-4, Figure 1) 3 are the aminal functionality at C21 and the vestigial (2-hydroxy)ethyl moiety at C7. 4 Biosynthetically, these features are believed to arise from oxidative degradation of the tryptamine fragment in vincadifformine (4, Scheme 1A) followed by fragmentation and N1-C21 recombination. 5 Cyclizations between an indole and a C2-tethered iminium moiety (e.g., 5, Scheme 1B) are remarkably chemoselective. In the case of a C3-substituted indole fragment (e.g., 5, R 1 ≠ H), cyclization proceeds via C-N bond formation to furnish aminalcontaining tetracycle 6, as seen in previous syntheses of goniomitine (1). [5][6][7] Conversely, a C3-unsubstituted indole fragment (e.g., 5, R 1 = H) undergoes C-C bond formation followed by rearomatization to arrive at alternative tetracycle 7, a core that is present in numerous alkaloids (e.g., 2 & 4). 8 We anticipated that iminium intermediates such as 5 could be accessed in straightforward fashion from compounds containing a dihydropyrido[1,2-a]indolone (DHPI) core (Scheme 1C). Retrosynthetically, we envisioned that the propylamine fragment in 5 could arise from an anti-Markovnikov hydroamination of the allyl functionality in α-quaternary lactam 8. Given our lab's long-standing interest in the asymmetric synthesis of all-carbon quaternary centers, we believed that we could employ our Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation chemistry to construct the quaternary stereocenter at C20 in an enantioselecti...