Asymmetric Synthesis of an Endothelin Receptor Antagonist

Two distinct synthetic approaches to the biologically active and structurally unique endothelin antagonist J-104132 (1) have been developed Each synthesis involves a highly selective intramolecular cyclization of a late stage intermediate (bottom to top vs top to bottom) produced from a common early intermediate. Both routes initially yielded multi-gram quantities of the desired product, with the former ultimately developed to pilot scale readiness. Several novel reactions have been developed throughout the course of our studies. These involve a mild bromination of a pyridone to form a bromopyridine, a mild and efficient TEMPO catalyzed oxidation of an alcohol to give a carboxylic acid, as well as a novel stereoselective samarium iodide mediated deoxygenation reaction. These reactions have proved to be quite general and have been applied to a wide variety of substrates.