ABSTRACT
A practical and scaleable synthesis of the gamma-secretase inhibitor 1 is reported. The inhibitor consists of a central trisubstituted cyclohexane core with appended propionic acid, 2,5-difluorophenyl, and 4-chlorophenylsulfonyl moieties. Two alternative synthetic strategies, proceeding by way of a common disubstituted cyclohexanone derivative 5, were studied. In the preferred route, conjugate reduction of acrylonitrile derivative 4 with L-Selectride configures the desired relative stereochemistry of the cyclohexane core with >99.9:0.1 dr. A second strategy, based on catalyst-controlled hydrogenation of racemic cyclohexene derivative 2, is more convergent but less diastereoselective (up to 75:25 dr). The common cyclohexanone intermediate 5 was constructed by a regioselective Diels-Alder condensation of a 1,1-disubstituted vinyl sulfone 6 with 2-trimethylsiloxybutadiene.
Subject(s)
Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases/antagonists & inhibitors , Cyclohexenes/chemistry , Enzyme Inhibitors/chemical synthesis , Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases/metabolism , Enzyme Inhibitors/chemistry , Molecular Conformation , Molecular Structure , StereoisomerismABSTRACT
Asymmetric hydrogenation of ketone 1 using trans-RuCl(2)[(R)-xylbinap][(R)-daipen] (3) as a catalyst afforded secondary alcohol 2 quantitatively and in 99.4% ee. Further exploration of the effect of the thiazole ring substitution revealed that the catalyst was highly effective for the enantioselective hydrogenation of 5-benzoyl thiazoles, which afforded corresponding alcohols in 92-99% ee. The same protocol was applicable to a variety of aromatic-heteroaromatic ketones to generate secondary alcohols in excellent enantioselectivities. [reaction: see text]
