Singlet-oxygen ene reaction with 3β-substituted stigmastanes. An alternative pathway for the classical Schenck rearrangement

Abstract

The course of the singlet-oxygen ene reaction with stigmasta-5,22-dienes may be controlled if in the substrate a good leaving group as substituent is present at 3-C. Thus when the 5α-hydroperoxystigmasta-5,22-diene is formed instead of the well known allylic rearrangement to yield the 7α-hydroperoxystigmasta-5,22-diene isomer an intramolecular nucleophilic substitution can then occur yielding 5α-hydroxystigmasta-6,22-dien-3-one. Various stigmasta-5,22-dienes were chosen to elucidate which feature of the stigmastane is necessary to control the course of the reaction. Thus, 3β-F, 3β-Cl, 3β-Br, 3β-I and 3α-Br-stigmasta-5,22-dienes were firstly prepared and fully characterized in order to study their reaction with ¹O₂ under different experimental conditions. 3β-Acetoxy- and 3β-mesyloxy-stigmasta-5,22-diene derivatives were also prepared and studied.