Five-membered ring spiro-annulation via thermal rearrangement of enol silyl ethers of 2-(cyclopropylmethylene)cycloalkanones. A formal total synthesis of some spirovetivane-type sesquiterpenoids

Abstract

Treatment of the 2-(iodomethylene)cycloalkanones 10 and 11 with lithium (phenylthio)(cyclopropyl)cuprate provided good yields of the corresponding β-cyclopropyl enones 12 and 13, respectively. Thermolysis of the latter substances produced relatively poor yields of the desired spiro-annulation products 14 and 15. However, conversion of 12 and 13 into the corresponding enol silyl ethers 24 and 25, followed by thermal rearrangement of the latter materials and acid hydrolysis of the resulting products, provided synthetically useful yields of the spiro enones 14 and 15. Cuprous iodide-catalyzed addition of methyl magnesium iodide to 2-cyclohexen-1-one, followed by trapping of the resultant enolate anion with cyclopropanecarboxaldehyde, provided the ketols 38, which could be converted readily into the mixture of enol silyl ethers 34 and 35. Thermal rearrangement of the latter substances gave, after acid hydrolysis of the crude thermolysate, the spiro enones 42 and 43 in a ratio of ~2.5:1 (57% yield). Treatment of 42 with methyllithium in ether gave the tertiary alcohols 44 and 45 (ratio ~4:1). Hydroboration (disiamylborane, tetrahydrofuran; H2O2, NaOH) of 44, followed by oxidation of the resultant diol 46 with pyridinium chlorochromate, provided the ketol 47. A similar sequence of reactions converted the olefinic alcohol 45 into the ketol 49. Dehydration (p-toluenesulfonic acid in benzene) of 47 gave the spiro enones 28 and 48, in a ratio of ~9:1. Compound 28, also prepared previously from the ketol 49, had been converted earlier into the spirovetivane-type sesquiterpenoids (±)-α-vetispirene (29), (±)-β-vetivone (30), (±)-hinesol (31), (±)-hinesol acetate (32), and (±)-agarospirol (33).