Reduction of oxiranyl epothilone compounds to olefinic epothilone compounds

摘要

The invention as claimed is directed to a process for making an epothilone having the following structuresfrom ones having an oxiranyl moiety, by reacting a compound having the latter structure with a metal or metal-assisted reagent. Said metal or metal-assisted reagent is selected from the group consisting of a) reactive metallocenes; b) [N2C(CO2Me)2, cat Rh2,(OAC)4]; c) [N2C(CO2Me)2, cat[(n-C7H15CO2)2 Rh]2]; d) [Zn-Cu, EtOH]; e) [Mg(Hg), MgBr]; f) Cr; g) [FeCl3, n-BuLi]; h) [TiCl3, LiAlH4]; i) [TiCl4, Zn]; j) [WCl6, LiAlH4,]; k) [NbCl5, NaAlH4]; l) [VCl3,Zn] and m) [WCl6, n-BuLi].