Synthesis of natural (−)-antrocin and its enantiomer via stereoselective aldol reaction

Abstract

The total synthesis of (−)-antrocin and its enantiomer are presented. Antrocin (−)-1 is an important natural product which acts as an antiproliferative agent in a metastatic breast cancer cell line (IC50: 0.6 μM). The key features of this synthesis are: (a) selective anti-addition of trimethylsilyl cyanide (TMSCN) to α,β-unsaturated ketone; (b) resolution of (±)-7 using chiral auxiliary L-dimethyl tartrate through formation of cyclic ketal diastereomers followed by simple column chromatography separation and acid hydrolysis; (c) substrate-controlled stereoselective aldol condensation of (+)-12 with monomeric formaldehyde and pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) oxidation for synthesis of essential lactone core in (−)-14; and (d) non-basic Lombardo olefination of the carbonyl at the final step to yield (−)-antrocin. In addition, (+)-9 cyclic ketal diastereomer was converted to (+)-antrocin with similar reaction sequences.