Claims
- 1. A process for the synthesis of substituted 4- and 6-position melatonin compounds, comprising:
- a) substituting the 1-position of the melatonin in an appropriate solvent to produce the protected melatonin compound in which the only indole positions readily available for substitution are the 4- and 6- positions,
- b) mercurating the protected melatonin compound in an appropriate solvent with a mercuric salt to produce a mixture of the 4- and 6-organomercury products,
- c) treating the mixture of 4- and 6-organomercurated products in an appropriate solvent with a halide salt to provide a mixture of the corresponding 4- and 6-halomercury isomers,
- d) separating in an appropriate solvent the mixture of 4-halomercury and 6-halomercury isomers into the individual 4-halomercury and 6-halomercury isomers,
- e) treating, in an appropriate solvent, the individual 4-halomercurated and 6-halomercurated isomers with a halogenating agent to produce the corresponding isolated 4- and 6-halogenated compounds, and
- f) deprotecting the isolated 4- and 6-halogenated compounds in an appropriate solvent.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the protected melatonin compound is selected from the group consisting of 1-(t-butyldimethylsilyl) melatonin, 1-triisopropylsilyl melatonin, and 1-triethylsilyl melatonin.
- 3. The process of claim 1 wherein the mercuric salt of step b) is selected from the group consisting of mercuric acetate and mercuric trifluoroacetate.
- 4. The process of claim 3 wherein the mercuric salt of step b) is mercuric acetate.
- 5. The process of claim 1 wherein the solvent of step b) is selected from the group consisting of acetic acid, dimethylformamide, and acetonitrile.
- 6. The process of claim 5 wherein the solvent is acetonitrile.
- 7. The process of claim 1 wherein the halide salt of step c) is selected from the group consisting of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, triethylbenzylammonium chloride, and tetrabutylammonium chloride.
- 8. The process of claim 7 wherein the halide salt of step c) is triethylbenzylammonium chloride.
- 9. The process of claim 1 wherein the halogenating agent of step e) is selected from the group consisting of iodine, bromine, fluorine, iodine monochloride, hypohalites, acylhypohalites, and alkali halides plus oxidants.
- 10. The process of claim 9 wherein the oxidants are selected from the group consisting of chloramine-T and hydrogen peroxide plus a peroxidase enzyme.
- 11. The process of claim 9 wherein the alkali halide plus oxidant of step e) is sodium iodide plus chloramine-T.
- 12. The process of claim 1 wherein the solvent of step e) is selected from the group consisting of alcohol, alcohol/water combinations, and chlorocarbons.
- 13. The process of claim 12 wherein the solvent is ethanol.
- 14. A compound of the formula: ##STR3## wherein P is selected from the group consisting of triisopropylsilyl, t-butyldimethylsilyl and triethylsilyl, and X is selected from the group consisting of chloro, acetoxy and trifluoroacetoxy.
- 15. The compound of claim 14 wherein P is triisopropylsilyl and X is chloro.
- 16. A compound of the formula: ##STR4## wherein P is selected from the group consisting of triisopropylsilyl, t-butyldimethylsilyl and triethylsilyl, and X is selected from the group consisting of acetoxy and trifluoroacetoxy.
- 17. The compound of claim 16 wherein P is triisopropylsilyl and X is chloro.
PRIORITY CLAIM
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent 60/093090, filed Jul. 16, 1998.
US Referenced Citations (3)