Stereoelectronic Model To Explain Highly Stereoselective Reactions of Seven-Membered-Ring Oxocarbenium-Ion Intermediates.

Nucleophilic attack on seven-membered-ring oxocarbenium ions is generally highly stereoselective. The preferred mode of nucleophilic attack forms the product in a conformation that minimizes transannular interactions, thus leading to different stereoselectivity as compared to that of reactions involving six-membered-ring oxocarbenium ions.

Rhodium-catalyzed endo-selective epoxide-opening cascades: formal synthesis of (-)-brevisin.

[Rh(CO)2Cl]2 is as an effective catalyst for endo-selective cyclizations and cascades of epoxy-(E)-enoate alcohols, thus enabling the synthesis of oxepanes and oxepane-containing polyethers from di- and trisubstituted epoxides. Syntheses of the ABC and EF ring systems of (-)-brevisin via all endo-diepoxide-opening cascades using this method constitute a formal total synthesis and demonstrate the utility of this methodology in the context of the synthesis of marine ladder polyether natural products.

Ni(II) salts and 2-propanol effect catalytic reductive coupling of epoxides and alkynes.

A Ni-catalyzed reductive coupling of alkynes and epoxides using Ni(II) salts and simple alcohol reducing agents is described. Whereas previously reported conditions relied on Ni(cod)(2) and Et(3)B, this system has several advantages including the use of air-stable and inexpensive Ni(II) precatalysts (e.g.

Erosion of stereochemical control with increasing nucleophilicity: O-glycosylation at the diffusion limit.

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of 2-deoxyglycosyl donors indicated that the reactivity of the oxygen nucleophile has a significant impact on stereoselectivity. Employing ethanol as the nucleophile resulted in a 1:1 (alpha:beta) ratio of diastereomers under S(N)1-like reaction conditions. Stereoselective formation of the 2-deoxy-alpha-O-glycoside was only observed when weaker nucleophiles, such as trifluoroethanol, were employed.

C-glycosylation reactions of sulfur-substituted glycosyl donors: evidence against the role of neighboring-group participation.

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of C-4 sulfur-substituted tetrahydropyran acetals revealed that neighboring-group participation does not control product formation. Spectroscopic evidence for the formation of an intermediate sulfonium ion is provided, as are data from nucleophilic substitution reactions demonstrating that products are formed from oxocarbenium ion intermediates. The selectivity was not sensitive to solvent or to which Lewis acid was employed.