Total synthesis and biological evaluation of neodysiherbaine A and analogues

Dysiherbaine (1) and its congener neodysiherbaine A (2) are naturally occurring excitatory amino acids with selective and potent agonistic activity for ionotropic glutamate receptors. We describe herein the total synthesis of 2 and its structural analogues 3-8. Advanced key intermediate 16 was employed as a branching point to assemble a series of these analogues 3-8 with respect to the C₈ and C₉ functionalities, which would not have been accessible through manipulations of the natural product itself. The synthesis of key intermediate 16 features (i) stereocontrolled C-glycosylation to set the C₆ stereocenter, (ii) concise synthesis of the bicyclic ether skeleton through chemo- and stereoselective dihydroxylation of the exo-olefin and stereoselective epoxidation of the enufo-olefin, followed by epoxide ring opening/5-exo ring closure, and (iii) catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of enamide ester to construct the amino acid appendage. A preliminary biological evaluation of analogues for their in vivo toxicity against mice and binding affinity for glutamate receptors showed that both the type and stereochemistry of the C₈ and C₉ functional groups affected the subtype selectivity of dysiherbaine analogues for members of the kainic acid receptor family.