Recent developments in the synthesis of prosophylline and its derivatives

Abstract

Several synthetic efforts are reported towards the optically active (−)-prosophylline and (+)-prosophylline, and their derivatives. Interestingly and surprisingly, although only a few synthesis are reported for the parent molecules, there are more reports for the synthesis of their derivatives such as deoxoprosophyllines, deoxoprosopinines, deoxocassines etc. The three main strategies to procure these molecules in optically pure forms are by using (i) chiral synthons (ii) chiral auxiliaries and (iii) asymmetric catalysis. Among these, the chiral synthons are mainly utilized by a number of researchers. This review summarizes the recent developments in the synthesis of optically active prosophyllines and their derivatives, and covers the literature from the year 2000 onwards.