A Simple Four-Step Synthesis of the Potato Alkaloid Demissidine from the Common Sapogenin Tigogenin

A simple synthesis method of solanidane alkaloids from common steroidal sapogenins was developed. Previously described multi-step transformations of tigogenin to demissidine (8-12 steps) were shortened to four steps only. The key-step of the present synthesis was the epimerization at C25 of the lactam intermediate. Different approaches to this reaction, i. e., a classical one via enolate, and a chemoselective umpolung transformation, were thoroughly investigated. The epimerization step is unnecessary if the starting sapogenin has the same configuration at C25 as the target alkaloid because the configuration at C25 (either R or S) remains intact throughout the synthesis. Thus, the related solanidane alkaloids, 12β-hydroxy-25-epi-demissidine and 5-epi-demissidine, were synthesized in the three-step procedure with retention of configuration at this stereogenic center from rockogenin (25R-5α-sapogenin) or sarsasapogenin (25S-5β-sapogenin), respectively.