Investigation of prostanoid synthesis

Abstract

The pathways of prostaglandin (PG) and thromboxane (TX) biosynthesis starting from arachidonic acid are shown in Scheme 1. It is well known that PGs and TX play an important role in maintaining homeostatsis. Since the discovery of these agents, much attention has been paid to their therapeutic potential. Massive efforts have been made to achieve their efficient chemical synthesis because a sufficient supply of these rare local hormones is exclusively dependent on their synthesis. Among the many synthetic methods described in the literature, Corey's and Noyori's are representative ones because both of these approaches are highly efficient and allow the production of all the naturally occurring PGs and a wide range of structural analogues. Discovery of a stereoselective method for the reduction of prochiral 15-ketone was another challenge in relation to the highly efficient synthesis of PGs. In this review, we describe methods for the synthesis of PGs and TX, including stereoselective reduction of 15-ketone.