Enantio- and Diastereoselective Cyclocondensation Reactions. Stereocontrolled Access to Azabicycles and Application to Natural Product Synthesis

The first objective of this Thesis was the study of the preparation of octhydro-1H-cyclopenta[b]pyridines and octahydro-1H-indoles, through the synthesis of (R)-phenylglycinol derived tricyclic lactams. Following the previous reported methodology a carbon substituent would be present at the carbocyclic ring and we planned to find the conditions for controlling its absolute configuration. Unfortunately, the reaction of ketoester 4 and ketoacid 7, provided undesired enamines 8 and 9. On the other hand, the reaction of ketoacid derivatives 16 and 17 with (R)-phenylglycinol led to a mixture of epimeric amides 18. With the aim to extend the methodology, we planned to study the cyclocondensation reaction of (R)-phenylglycinol and (1S, 2R)-aminoindanol with C-3 and C-5 substituted cyclohexanepropionate derivatives. These reactions provided enantiopure tricyclic or pentacyclic lactams: in every run, a major lactam was isolated or identified, and a minor one was detected. The use of (1S, 2R)-aminoindanol resulted in better results. These tricyclic and pentacyclic lactams are precursors of C-8 (and C-6,8) substituted cis-decahydroquinolines. The conversion required the stereoselective reductive cleavage of C-O oxazolidine bond with simultaneous reduction of lactam carbonyl group, and debenzylation. A library of enantiopure cis-decahydroquinolines was obtained. To illustrate the usefulness of our method, we decided to undertake the synthesis of some alkaloids of Myrioneuron nutans family, which contain an 8-substituted cis-decahydroquinoline core. In particular, we prepared the enantiopure alcohol 82, which was described to be a common intermediate in the synthesis of various Mirioneuron nutans alkaloids. Our synthetic procedure greatly improved the previous results reported for the synthesis of this alcohol. The cyclocondensation reaction of (R)-phenylglycinol and (1S,2R)-aminoindanol with 3-alkyl-2-oxo-cyclohexane-1-acetate derivatives was finally considered. Reaction of (R)-phenylglycinol and 3-alkyl-2-oxocyclohexaneacetate derivatives 97-100 and 107 provided with high yield and stereoselectivity tricyclic lactams 110, 112a, 114, 116 and 118, which incorporate an alkyl or aryl substituent at C-10, while (1S,2R)-aminoindanol did not furnish so good outcomes. These reactions stereoselectively provided an additional minor hexahydroindole by-product. The absolute configuration of these compounds 111a, 113a, 115a and 117a was confirmed by X-ray crystallography. In the