Organocatalyzed Carbocyclic Construction: (+)-Roseophilin (Flynn) and (+)-Galbulin (Hong)
Armido Studer of Wilhems-University Münster effected (Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 5190) the enantioselective conjugate addition of 2 to 1, leading to the cyclopropane 3. Karl Anker Jørgensen of Aarhus University devised (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 2543) a route to cyclobutanes based on the enantioselective addition of 5 to the nitroalkene 4. Jose L. Vicario of the Universidad del País Vasco reported (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 4104) a similar procedure. Benjamin List of the Max-Planck-Institute Mülheim epoxidized (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012, 354, 1701) cyclopentenones such as 7 with high ee. Lutz H. Gade of the Universität Heidelberg observed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 2946) high ee in the benzylation of 9. Cheng Ma of Zhejiang University formylated (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 2959) cyclopentanone, then condensed the resulting aldehyde 12 with 13 to give 14. Hao Xu of Georgia State University cyclized (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 858) 15 to the cyclopentenone 16. (+)-Rosephilin 19 inhibits several phosphatases. Bernard L. Flynn of Monash University prepared (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 1740) the carbocyclic core of 19 by cyclizing 17 to the cyclopentenone 18. Masanori Yoshida of Hokkaido University designed (J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 8513) a very simple organocatalyst for the enantioselective conjugate addition of 21 to 20. Samuel H. Gellman of the University of Wisconsin showed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 2582) that nitromethane could be added to 23 with high ee. Hiroaki Sasai of Osaka University effected (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 5423) the enantioselective cyclization of the prochiral 25. Ying-Chun Chen of Sichuan University found (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 4401) that the diene 27 could be converted to 29 by way of the intermediate trienamine. Bor-Cherng Hong of the National Chung Cheng University observed (Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 2385) that under organocatalysis, only one enantiomer of 31 would add to 30, delivering 32 in high ee. Aromatization of 32 led to (+)-galbulin 33.