Enantiospecific synthesis of methyl ester side chain of bishomoharringtonine

Abstract

The enantiospecific total synthesis of methyl ester derivative of bishomoharringtonine side chain is accomplished from l-glutamate in 41 % overall yield. Key feature of the synthesis is the construction of the chiral quaternary center by a Wittig reaction to obtain single configuration trisubstitutes olefin and the subsequent complete chirality transfer of [2, 3]-Meisenheimer rearrangement.