作者:Spencer B. Jones、Bryon Simmons、Anthony Mastracchio、David W. C. MacMillan
DOI:10.1038/nature10232
日期:2011.7
Organic chemists are now able to synthesize small quantities of almost any known natural product, given sufficient time, resources and effort. However, translation of the academic successes in total synthesis to the large-scale construction of complex natural products and the development of large collections of biologically relevant molecules present significant challenges to synthetic chemists. Here we show that the application of two nature-inspired techniques, namely organocascade catalysis and collective natural product synthesis, can facilitate the preparation of useful quantities of a range of structurally diverse natural products from a common molecular scaffold. The power of this concept has been demonstrated through the expedient, asymmetric total syntheses of six well-known alkaloid natural products: strychnine, aspidospermidine, vincadifformine, akuammicine, kopsanone and kopsinine. By combining two biosynthetic principles that have evolved in the natural world, David MacMillan and colleagues at the Merck Center for Catalysis at Princeton University, New Jersey, have developed a powerful strategy for the production of a broad spectrum of natural products. The first technique is organocascade catalysis, in which a continuous catalytic cascade replaces the traditional stop-go method of synthesis. The second is collective synthesis, in which a general synthetic route is used to reach a common molecular scaffold that, with appropriate fine-tuning, serves as a conduit to other members of the same chemical family. The method is demonstrated with the asymmetric total syntheses of six high-profile alkaloids: strychnine, aspidospermidine, vincadifformine, akuammicine, kopsanone and kopsinine.
有机化学家现在能够在足够时间、资源和努力下合成几乎所有已知的天然产物的小量样本。但是,将全合成的学术成功转化为复杂天然产物的大规模构建和相关生物分子的大量集合开发,对合成化学家来说是一个巨大的挑战。在这里,我们展示了两种自然启发的技术,即有机级联催化(organocascade catalysis)和集体天然产物合成(collective natural product synthesis),它们可以促进使用常见分子支架来制备一系列具有不同结构的天然产物有用量。这个概念的强大之处已通过六种著名的生物碱天然产物的方便的、不对称的全合成得到证明:马钱子碱、阿部碱、长春碱、奥斯卡宁、可乐定和可普森宁。通过结合自然界中已经进化出的两种生物合成原理,David MacMillan和他在新泽西州普林斯顿大学的默克催化中心的同事们开发了一种能够广泛生产天然产物的有力策略。第一种技术是有机级联催化,其中连续的催化级联取代传统的停-来方法合成。第二种是集体合成,其使用通用的合成路线来达到一个常见的分子支架,而这个支架通过适当的微调,成为了同一家族的其他成员的通道。这种方法通过六种著名生物碱的不对称全合成得到展示:马钱子碱、阿部碱、长春碱、奥斯卡宁、可乐定和可普森宁。