The diazo route to diazonamide A: studies on the tyrosine-derived fragment.

Various approaches to the tyrosine-derived fragment of the marine secondary metabolite diazonamide A are described. Initial efforts were focused on the originally proposed structure of the natural product, and a feasibility study established that a model 4-aryltryptamine could be readily prepared. Protected 4-bromotryptamine underwent Pd0-catalyzed coupling with the boronic acid derived from 2-bromophenyl allyl ether by Claisen rearrangement, O-methylation and lithiation-boration.

Stereoselective cycloadditions of chiral acyl-nitroso compounds; selective reactions of ring-cleaved cycloadducts leading to a new approach to polyoxamic acid.

Diesters obtained from diacids produced by oxidative ring cleavage of cycloadducts derived from acyl-nitroso compounds and cyclic 1,3-dienes undergo highly regioselective hydrolysis on reaction with lithium hydroperoxide, which allows for easy differentiation of the carboxyl groups leading to a new approach to polyoxamic acid.