A multigram chemical synthesis of the γ-secretase inhibitor LY411575 and its diastereoisomers

An improved chemical synthesis of N-2((2S)-2-(3,5-difluorophenyl)-2-hydroxyethanoyl)-N1-((7S)-5-methyl-6-oxo-6,7-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[b,d]azepin-7-yl)-L-alaninamide (LY411,575, 9a), a known gamma-secretase inhibitor, is described. The key synthetic steps, which used no chiral chromatography in the entire sequence, involved (1) improved microwave-assisted synthesis of a seven-membered lactam (+/-)-(5.7-dihydro-6H-dibenz-[b,d]azepin-6-one 2, and (2) convenient isolation of pure LY411575 from a mixture of four diastereomers by simple flash silica gel chromatography. Starting from the resolved aminolactams 5a and 5b, all four diastereomers were produced in enantiomerically pure form. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.