Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.128, No.9, 2859-2872, 2006
Total synthesis and structural elucidation of azaspiracid-1. Final assignment and total synthesis of the correct structure of azaspiracid-1
The molecular structure of azaspiracid-1, a neurotoxin isolated from mussels, has been elucidated by total synthesis which also enriched its supplies. The degradatively derived fragments of this marine biotoxin, compounds 5 (EFGHI), 6 (FGHI), and 40 (ABCD), were matched with synthetic materials, thus confirming their structural identities. Based on this detective work, a new structure of azaspiracid-1 (i.e., 1) was proposed and constructed by total synthesis. The final strategy for the total synthesis of azaspiracid-1 featured a dithiane anion (C-21-C-27 fragment) reacting with a pentafluorophenol ester (C-1-C-20 fragment) followed by a Stille-type union of an advanced allylic acetate substrate (C-1-C-27 fragment) with a vinyl stannane as the main coupling processes to assemble the carbon skeleton of the molecule. In addition to the total synthesis of azaspiracid-1 (1), the syntheses Of its C-1-C-20 epimer (2) and of several truncated analogues for biological investigations are described.