Synlett 2017; 28(01): 1-11
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1588372
account
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Pardon the Interruption: A Modification of Fischer’s Venerable ­Reaction for the Synthesis of Heterocycles and Natural Products

Robert B. Susick
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 607 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA   Email: neilgarg@chem.ucla.edu
,
Lucas A. Morrill
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 607 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA   Email: neilgarg@chem.ucla.edu
,
Elias Picazo
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 607 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA   Email: neilgarg@chem.ucla.edu
,
Neil K. Garg*
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 607 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA   Email: neilgarg@chem.ucla.edu
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 17 November 2016

Accepted: 21 November 2016

Publication Date:
08 December 2016 (online)


These authors contributed equally.

Abstract

This account provides an overview of our laboratory’s studies of an unusual variant of the Fischer indolization reaction. We describe the discovery of the so-called ‘interrupted Fischer indolization’ and the development of the reaction from a methodological standpoint. In addition, our efforts to evaluate and apply this methodology in the context of akuammiline alkaloid total synthesis are discussed.

1 Introduction

2 Interrupted Fischer Indolization Methodology

3 Applications in Akuammiline Alkaloid Total Synthesis

4 Concluding Thoughts

 
  • References

  • 1 See: http://garg.chem.ucla.edu/.
  • 2 Garg NK, Sarpong R, Stoltz BM. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002; 124: 13179
    • 3a Garg NK, Caspi DD, Stoltz BM. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004; 126: 9552
    • 3b Garg NK, Caspi DD, Stoltz BM. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005; 127: 5970
    • 4a Garg NK, Hiebert S, Overman LE. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006; 45: 2912
    • 4b Becker MH, Chua P, Downham R, Douglas CJ, Garg NK, Hiebert S, Jaroch S, Matsuoka RT, Middleton JA, Ng FW, Overman LE. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007; 129: 11987

      For select studies on physovenine, see:
    • 5a Sunazuka T, Yoshida K, Kojima N, Shirahata T, Hirose T, Handa M, Yamamoto D, Harigaya Y, Kuwajima I, Omura S. Tetrahedron Lett. 2005; 46: 1459
    • 5b Chiou W.-H, Kao C.-L, Tsai J.-C, Chang Y.-M. Chem. Commun. 2013; 49: 8232
    • 5c Matsuura T, Overman LE, Poon DJ. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998; 120: 6500
    • 5d Shishido K, Shitara E, Komatsu H, Hiroya K, Fukumoto K, Kametani T. J. Org. Chem. 1986; 51: 3007
    • 5e Takano S, Moriya M, Ogasawara K. J. Org. Chem. 1991; 56: 5982
    • 5f Zhou B, Hou W, Yang Y, Feng H, Li Y. Org. Lett. 2014; 16: 1322
    • 5g De S, Das MK, Bhunia S, Bisai A. Org. Lett. 2015; 17: 5922
    • 5h Zhang TY, Zhang H. Tetrahedron Lett. 2002; 43: 1363
    • 5i Clark AJ, Jones K. Tetrahedron 1992; 48: 6875
    • 5j Kulkarni MG, Dhondge AP, Borhade AS, Gaikwad DD, Chavhan SW, Shaikh YB, Nigdale VB, Desai MP, Birhade DR, Shinde MP. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2009; 3875
    • 5k Chen J.-Q, Wei Y.-L, Xu G.-Q, Liang Y.-M, Xu P.-F. Chem. Commun. 2016; 52: 6455
    • 5l Shao Z, Zhang H. Youji Huaxue 2005; 25: 282
    • 5m Morales-Ríos MS, Santos-Sánchez NF, Joseph-Nathan P. J. Nat. Prod. 2002; 65: 136
    • 5n Tanaka K, Taniguchi T, Ogasawara K. Tetrahedron Lett. 2001; 42: 1049

      For a recent review of pyrrolidinoindoline natural product syntheses, see:
    • 6a Ruiz-Sanchis P, Savina SA, Albericio F, Alvarez M. Chem. Eur. J. 2011; 17: 1388

    • See also:
    • 6b ElAzab AS, Taniguchi T, Ogasawara K. Org. Lett. 2000; 2: 2757
    • 6c Ishibashi H, Kobayashi T, Machida N, Tamura O. Tetrahedron 2000; 56: 1469
    • 6d Node M, Hao X.-J, Nishide K, Fuki K. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1996; 44: 715
    • 6e Yu QS, Lu BY. Heterocycles 1994; 39: 519
    • 6f Morales-Ríos MS, Santos-Sánchez NF, Fragoso-Vázquez MJ, Alagille D, Villagómez-Ibarra JR, Joseph-Nathan P. Tetrahedron 2003; 59: 2843
    • 6g Horne S, Taylor N, Collins S, Rodrigo R. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1 1991; 3047
    • 6h Yu Q, Liu C, Brzostowska M, Chrisey L, Brossi A, Greig NH, Atack JR, Soncrant TT, Rapoport SI, Radunz H. Helv. Chim. Acta 1991; 74: 761
    • 6i Luo Y, Yu Q, Chrisey L, Brossi A. Heterocycles 1990; 31: 283
    • 6j Shishido K, Azuma T, Shibuya M. Tetrahedron Lett. 1990; 31: 219
    • 6k Tadamasa O. Tetrahedron Lett. 1971; 12: 4391
    • 6l Dale FJ, Robinson B. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 1970; 22: 889
    • 6m Longmore RB, Robinson B. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1967; 2184
    • 6n Trost BM, Zhang Y. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006; 128: 4590

      For syntheses of physostigmine since Alvarez’s review (ref. 6a), see:
    • 7a Wu Y, Wang F, Song H, Qin Y. Helv. Chim. Acta 2011; 94: 1496
    • 7b Badiola E, Fiser B, Gomez-Bengoa E, Mielgo A, Olaizola I, Urruzuno I, Garcia JM, Odriozola JM, Razkin J, Oiarbide M, Palomo C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014; 136: 17869
    • 7c Pandey G, Khamrai J, Mishra A. Org. Lett. 2015; 17: 952
  • 8 For select studies pertaining to 4 and its isomers, see: Büeschleb M, Dorich S, Hanessian S, Tao D, Schenthal KB, Overman LE. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016; 55: 4156
    • 9a Li J, Jeong S, Esser L, Harran PG. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001; 40: 4765
    • 9b Li J, Burgett AW. G, Esser L, Amezcua C, Harran PG. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001; 40: 4770
    • 9c Nicolaou KC, Bella M, Chen DY.-K, Huang X, Ling T, Snyder SA. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2002; 41: 3495
    • 9d Nicolaou KC, Rao PB, Hao J, Reddy MV, Rassias G, Huang X, Chen DY.-K, Snyder SA. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003; 42: 1753
    • 9e Burgett AW. G, Li Q, Wei Q, Harran PG. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003; 42: 4961
    • 9f Knowles RR, Carpenter J, Blakey SB, Kayano A, Mangion IK, Sinz CJ, MacMillan DW. C. Chem. Sci. 2011; 2: 308

      For a pertinent review, see:
    • 10a Trost BM, Osipov M. Chem. Eur. J. 2015; 21: 16318

    • For a seminal and influential study by Stoltz and co-workers, see:
    • 10b May JA, Zeidan RK, Stoltz BM. Tetrahedron Lett. 2003; 44: 1203
    • 11a Subramaniam G, Hiraku O, Hayashi M, Koyano T, Komiyama K, Kam T.-S. J. Nat. Prod. 2007; 70: 1783
    • 11b Subramaniam G, Kam T.-S. Helv. Chim. Acta 2008; 91: 930
  • 12 Kam T.-S, Tan S.-J, Ng S.-W, Komiyama K. Org. Lett. 2008; 10: 3749
    • 13a Garg NK, Woodroofe CC, Lacenere CJ, Quake SR, Stoltz BM. Chem. Commun. 2005; 4551
    • 13b Lacenere CJ, Garg NK, Stoltz BM, Quake SR. Nucleosides, Nucleotides Nucleic Acids 2005; 25: 9
  • 14 For the use of cyanine dyes in DNA sequencing, see: Braslavsky I, Hebert B, Kartalov E, Quake SR. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2003; 100: 3960
  • 15 The approximate cost of Cy3 is $286.00 for enough dye to label 1 mg of protein (GE Healthcare).
  • 16 Li Q, Tan J, Peng B.-X. Molecules 1997; 2: 91

    • For the classic Fischer indole synthesis, see:
    • 17a Fischer E, Jourdan F. Ber. 1883; 16: 2241
    • 17b Fischer E, Hess O. Ber. 1884; 17: 559

      Lactols and hemiaminals had previously been employed in modifications of the Fischer indole synthesis, see:
    • 18a Campos KR, Woo JC. S, Lee S, Tillyer RD. Org. Lett. 2004; 6: 79
    • 18b Brodfuehrer PR, Chen B.-C, Sattelberg TR, Smith PR, Reddy JP, Stark DR, Quinlan SL, Reid JG, Thottathil JK, Wang S. J. Org. Chem. 1997; 62: 9192
    • 18c Adachi H, Palaniappan KK, Ivanov AA, Bergman N, Gao Z.-G, Jacobson KA. J. Med. Chem. 2007; 50: 1810
    • 19a Boal BW, Schammel AW, Garg NK. Org. Lett. 2009; 11: 3458
    • 19b Schammel AW, Boal BW, Zu L, Mesganaw T, Garg NK. Tetrahedron 2010; 66: 4687
    • 20a Grandberg II, Zuyanova TI, Afonina NI, Ivanova TA. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 1967; 176: 583
    • 20b Britten AA, Bardsley WG, Hill CM. Tetrahedron 1971; 27: 5631
    • 20c Grandberg II, Tokmakov GP. Khim. Geterotsikl. Soedin. 1975; 207
    • 20d Rosenmund P, Sadri E. Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1979; 927
    • 20e Rosenmund P, Gektidis S, Brill H, Kalbe R. Tetrahedron Lett. 1989; 30: 61
    • 20f Takano S, Moriya M, Iwabuchi Y, Ogasawara K. Chem. Lett. 1990; 109
    • 20g Takano S, Ogasawara K, Iwabuchi R, Moriya M. JP 03112989 A 19910514, 1991
    • 20h Tsuji R, Nakagawa M, Nishida A. Heterocycles 2002; 58: 587
    • 20i Nishida A, Ushigome S, Sugimoto A, Arai S. Heterocycles 2005; 66: 181

      List’s laboratory ultimately developed an asymmetric Fischer indolization, see:
    • 21a Müller S, Webber MJ, List B. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011; 133: 18534
    • 21b Martínez A, Webber MJ, Müller S, List B. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013; 52: 9486
  • 22 Çelebi-Ölçüm N, Boal BW, Huters AD, Garg NK, Houk KN. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011; 133: 5752
  • 23 Schammel AW, Chiou G, Garg NK. Org. Lett. 2012; 14: 4556
  • 24 Schammel AW, Chiou G, Garg NK. J. Org. Chem. 2012; 77: 725
  • 25 Lahiri DK, Chen D, Maloney B, Holloway HW, Yu Q.-S, Utsuki T, Giordano T, Sambamurti K, Greig NH. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 2007; 320: 396
    • 26a Ramírez A, García-Rubio S. Curr. Med. Chem. 2003; 10: 1891
    • 26b Eckermann R, Gaich T. Synthesis 2013; 45: 2813
    • 26c Smith JM, Moreno J, Boal BW, Garg NK. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015; 54: 400
  • 27 Baliga MS. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s11655-011-0947-0.
  • 28 The first akuammiline alkaloid total synthesis was reported by Qin in 2009, see: Zhang M, Huang X, Shen L, Qin Y. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009; 131: 6013

    • For other total syntheses of akuammiline alkaloids, see:
    • 29a Adams GL, Carroll PJ, Smith III AB. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012; 134: 4037
    • 29b Zi W, Xie W, Ma D. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012; 134: 9126
    • 29c Adams GL, Carroll PJ, Smith III AB. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013; 135: 519
    • 29d Horning BD, MacMillan DW. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013; 135: 6442
    • 29e Smith MW, Snyder SA. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013; 135: 12964
    • 29f Teng M, Zi W, Ma D. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014; 53: 1814
    • 29g Ren W, Wang Q, Zhu J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014; 53: 1818
    • 29h Ren W, Wang Q, Zhu J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016; 55: 3500
    • 29i Li Y, Zhu S, Li J, Li A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016; 138: 3982
    • 29j Nishiyama D, Ohara A, Chiba H, Kumagai H, Oishi S, Fujii N, Ohno H. Org. Lett. 2016; 18: 1670
    • 29k Li G, Xie X, Zu L. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016; 55: 10483
    • 29l Eckermann R, Breunig M, Gaich T. Chem. Commun. 2016; 52: 11363

      For our laboratory’s total syntheses of akuammilines, see:
    • 30a Zu L, Boal BW, Garg NK. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011; 133: 8877
    • 30b Smith JM, Moreno J, Boal BW, Garg NK. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014; 136: 4504
    • 30c Smith JM, Moreno J, Boal BW, Garg NK. J. Org. Chem. 2015; 80: 8954
    • 30d Moreno J, Picazo E, Morrill LA, Smith JM, Garg NK. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016; 138: 1162
    • 31a Battersby AR, Thompson M, Glüsenkamp K.-H, Tietze L.-F. Chem. Ber. 1981; 114: 3430
    • 31b Battersby AR, Westcoltt ND, Glüsenkamp K.-H, Tietze L.-F. Chem. Ber. 1981; 114: 3439
    • 31c Scott AI. Acc. Chem. Res. 1970; 3: 151
    • 31d Stöckigt J, Barleben L, Panjikar S, Loris EA. Plant Physiol. Biochem. 2008; 46: 340
  • 32 Under a variety of interrupted Fischer indolization conditions, substrate 53 underwent facile dehydration to give the corresponding dihydrofuran.
  • 33 Although ketone 54 underwent condensation with phenylhydrazine under several interrupted Fischer indolization conditions, no evidence of [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement was detected.

    • For the initial isolation of picrinine, see:
    • 34a Chatterjee A, Mukherjee B, Ray AB, Das B. Tetrahedron Lett. 1965; 6: 3633

    • For more recent isolation reports, see:
    • 34b Kam T.-S, Nyeoh K.-T, Sim K.-M, Yoganathan K. Phytochemistry 1997; 45: 1303
    • 34c Cai X.-H, Liu YP, Feng T, Luo X.-D. Chin. J. Nat. Med. 2008; 6: 20
  • 35 Hypervalent iodine reagents such as PhI(OAc)2 and periodic acid were ineffective for this transformation.
  • 36 VanRheenen V, Kelly RC, Cha DY. Tetrahedron Lett. 1976; 17: 1973
  • 37 Burk RM, Roof MB. Tetrahedron Lett. 1993; 34: 395
  • 38 For the removal of nosyl groups using a solid-supported thiol reagent, see: Cardullo F, Donati D, Merlo G, Paio A, Salaris M, Taddei M. Synlett 2005; 2996

    • For the initial isolation of strictamine, see:
    • 39a Schnoes HK, Biemann K, Mokry J, Kompis I, Chatterjee A, Ganguli G. J. Org. Chem. 1966; 31: 1641
    • 39b For the X-ray structure of strictamine, see: Ahmad Y, Fatima K, Atta-ur-Rahman Occolowitz JL, Solheim BA, Clardy J, Garnick RL, Le Quesne PW. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1977; 99: 1943

      For previous synthetic studies on strictamine or related methanoquinolizidine akuammilines, see:
    • 40a Dolby LJ, Esfandiari Z. J. Org. Chem. 1972; 37: 43
    • 40b Dolby LJ, Nelson SJ. J. Org. Chem. 1973; 38: 2882
    • 40c Bennasar M.-L, Zulaica E, López M, Bosch J. Tetrahedron Lett. 1988; 29: 2361
    • 40d Bennasar M.-L, Zulaica E, Ramírez A, Bosch J. J. Org. Chem. 1996; 61: 1239
    • 40e Koike T, Takayama H, Sakai S.-I. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1991; 39: 1677
    • 40f Edwankar RV, Edwankar CR, Namjoshi OA, Deschamps JR, Cook JM. J. Nat. Prod. 2012; 75: 181
    • 40g Komatsu Y, Yoshida K, Ueda H, Tokuyama H. Tetrahedron Lett. 2013; 54: 377
    • 40h Kawano M, Kiuchi T, Negishi S, Tanaka H, Hoshikawa T, Matsuo J.-I, Ishibashi H. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013; 52: 906
    • 40i Ren W, Tappin N, Wang Q, Zhu J. Synlett 2013; 24: 1941
  • 41 For the reductive interrupted Fischer indolization reaction, see: Maligres PE, Houpis I, Rossen K, Molina A, Sager J, Upadhyay V, Wells KM, Reamer RA, Lynch JE, Askin D, Volante RP, Reider PJ, Houghton P. Tetrahedron 1997; 53: 10983
  • 42 For the initial isolation of 2(S)-cathafoline, see: Lim S.-H, Low Y.-Y, Sinniah SK, Yong K.-T, Sim K.-S, Kam T.-S. Phytochemistry 2014; 98: 204
  • 43 For a review on the nosyl protecting group, see: Kan T, Fukuyama T. Chem. Commun. 2004; 353

    • For additional examples of the Fischer indolization in late-stage total synthesis of complex alkaloids, see:
    • 44a Ueda H, Satoh H, Matsumoto K, Sugimoto K, Fukuyama T, Tokuyama H. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009; 48: 7600
    • 44b Satoh H, Ueda H, Tokuyama H. Tetrahedron 2013; 69: 89
    • 44c Krüger S, Gaich T. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015; 54: 315
    • 44d Krüger S, Gaich T. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2016; 4893