Synthetic studies towards a new scaffold, spirobicycloimidazoline

A new scaffold consisting of a carbocycle and a substituted imidazoline in an orthogonal arrangement was synthesized as a potential specific inhibitor of glycosidases. The spirobicycloimidazoline, (5R,6R,7R,8R)-8-(hydroxymethyl)-2-phenyl-1,3-diazaspiro[4.4]non-1-ene-6,7-diol, was synthesized from methyl 2-O-p-methoxybenzyl-3,4-di-O-benzyl-alpha/beta-D-gluco-6-enopyranoside via (1R,2S,3S,4R,5S)-3,4-bis(benzyloxy)-2-(4-methoxybenzyloxy)-5-vinyl-cyclopentanol. The ring contraction of the 6-enopyranoside in the presence of zirconocene equivalent ('Cp(2)Zr') reagent gave exclusively the corresponding cyclopentanol without cleavage of the PMB protecting group. In the course of the study, a new alpha-mannosidase inhibitor, (1R,2R,3R,5R)-5-amino-3-hydroxymethyl-cyclopentane-1,2-diol, was also discovered.