New and selective reactions and reagents in natural product chemistry
Abstract — Radical reactions are not widely used in the synthetic chemistry of natural products. Nevertheless, they have considerable potential utility, because they are little troubled by steric congestion. Radical deoxygenation of the secondary hydroxyl group is an established process. It has now been supplemented by radical fission, induced by electron transfer, of esters. With hindered esters and with various thiocarbonyl esters, excellent yields of hydrocarbon can now be obtained. Radical deamination of primary, secondary and tertiary primary amines has been developed to give good yields of deaminated products. These radical reactions find application in the chemistry of aminoglycoside antibiotics. Other new radical reactions of synthetic interest will be presented.