The synthesis of conformationally-restricted 1,3-dioxanes with a phenyl moiety fixed in an axial orientation at the acetalic center is described. Starting with diethyl 3-hydroxyglutarate (15), benzaldehyde acetal 12a and acetophenone ketal 12b bearing a protected 1,3,5-trihydroxypentyl side chain in the o-position were prepared. The first acid-catalyzed intramolecular transacetalization gave a mixture of diastereomeric 2-benzofurans 18 (ratio of diastereomers 2:2:1:1). After OH group deprotection, the second intramolecular transacetalization afforded tricyclic alcohol 14a (2-(1,5-epoxy-1,3,4,5-tetrahydro-2-benzoxepin-3-yl]ethan-1-ol). Analogous cyclizations led to the corresponding silyl ether 22a (19%) and azide 23a (13%). Whereas tricyclic alcohol 14a was obtained as a 1:1 mixture of diastereomers, the silyl ether 22a and the azide 23a afforded only one diastereomer. This observation indicates a faster cyclization of the minor diastereomers providing the thermodynamically-favored compounds with equatorially-oriented substituents in the 3-position of the tricyclic 1,5-epoxy-2-benzoxepine system. In general, acetophenone-derived ketalic compounds (b-series) required very mild reaction conditions and gave lower yields than the corresponding acetalic compounds (a-series).
Keywords: 1,5-epoxy-2-benzoxepines; axially-oriented phenyl moiety; conformationally-restricted 1,3-dioxanes; double intramolecular transacetalization; polyhydroxy acetals; tricyclic alcohols.