Chiral sulfur ylides for the synthesis of bengamide E and analogues

A new synthetic methodology of asymmetric epoxidation developed in our laboratories has been employed for the stereoselective synthesis of bengamide E (16) and analogues at the terminal olefinic position. In the event, the chiral sulfonium salt 30 was transformed into its corresponding sulfur ylide and reacted with aldehydes 21 and 44 to efficiently provide epoxy amides 31 and 45, respectively. To access the bengamides from these epoxy amides, we combined a synthetic strategy previously reported by us, using an olefin cross metathesis reaction to introduce various alkyl substituents at the terminal olefinic position of amide 33, with reactions mediated by palladium (Negishi or Suzuki couplings) from amide 49. This latter route of introduction of alkyl groups proved to be more efficient than the metathesis approach and allowed access to the generation of a wide array of new bengamide analogues.