Synthesis of (+)‐8‐Deoxyvernolepin and Its 11,13‐Dihydroderivative. A Novel Reaction Initiated by Sulfene Elimination Leads to the 2‐Oxa‐cis‐decalin Skeleton.

Abstract

The title compounds are interesting candidates for antifungal screening. This paper describes the enantiospecific synthesis of these compounds starting from (+)-costunolide isolated from a commercially available extract. We used two novel reactions as key synthetic steps in this work: the acid-induced cyclization of an delta,epsilon-epoxy ester, which stereoselectively gave a hydroxymethyl-substituted delta-lactone, with the hydroxyalkyl group in the desired beta-equatorial disposition, and a reaction cascade, initiated by a base-promoted sulfene elimination, which led to a 10-oxiranyl-2-oxa-cis-decalin from the mesylate of a trans-fused delta-lactone. We also found that the reaction between selenium dioxide and the 1,5-diene system of elemanolides gave selenadecalins analogous to natural eudesmanolides. Our results prove that the synthetic strategy employed, on the basis of biomimetic concepts, is a useful procedure for the enantiospecific preparation of (+)-vernolepin-related compounds from accessible germacrolides.