Asymmetric Total Synthesis of (+)-Ryanodol and (+)-Ryanodine

(+)-Ryanodine (1) is the ester derivative of 1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid and the complex terpenoid (+)-ryanodol (2), which possesses eleven contiguous stereogenic centers on the ABCDE-ring system. Compound 1 is known to be a potent modulator of intracellular calcium release channels, whereas the activity of 2 is significantly weaker. To chemically construct 1, the multiple oxygen functional groups must be installed on the fused pentacycle in stereoselective fashions and the extremely hindered C3-hydroxy group must be acylated in a site-selective manner. First, the total synthesis of 2 was accomplished by introducing the five stereocenters from the previously prepared enantiopure ABDE-ring 7. Stereoselective construction of the C3-secondary, C2- and C6-tertiary alcohols was achieved by three nucleophilic reactions. The C9- and C10-trisubstituted carbon centers were regio- and stereoselectively introduced by hydroboration/oxidation of the six-membered C-ring, which was formed by the ring-closing metathesis reaction. Direct esterification of the C3-alcohol with pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid proved unsuccessful; therefore, we developed a new, two-step protocol for attachment of the pyrrole moiety. The C3-hydroxy group was first converted into the less sterically cumbersome glycine ester, which was then transformed into the pyrrole ring through condensation with 1,3-bis(dimethylamino)allylium tetrafluoroborate. This procedure resulted in the first total synthesis of 1.