Asymmetric Synthesis of Polyhydroxylated Pyrrolizidines via Transannular Iodoamination with Concomitant N-Debenzylation

The doubly diastereoselective “matched” conjugate addition of lithium (R)-N-but-3-enyl-N-(α-methyl-p-methoxybenzyl)amide to tert-butyl (4S,5R,E)-4,5-O-isopropylidene-2,7-dienoate (derived from d-ribose in 3 steps) and in situ enolate oxidation with (−)-camphorsulfonyloxaziridine was followed by ring-closing metathesis with Grubbs I to give a hexahydroazocine scaffold. Subsequent treatment with I2 resulted in transannular iodoamination accompanied by loss of the α-methyl-p-methoxybenzyl group to give the corresponding pyrrolizidine scaffold as a single diastereoisomer upon direct crystallization from the crude reaction mixture. Further functional group manipulations enabled the preparation of (−)-7a-epi-hyacinthacine A1.