Enantioselective and diastereoselective hydroxylation of bufuralol. Absolute configuration of the 7-(1-hydroxyethyl)-2-[1-hydroxy-2-(tert-butylamino)ethyl]benzofurans, the benzylic hydroxylation metabolites.

Asymmetric synthesis of the diastereomeric 7-(1-hydroxyethyl)-2-[1-hydroxy-2-(tert-butylamino)ethyl]benzofurans (2), the benzylic hydroxylation metabolites of bufuralol (1), is described, and the absolute configurations of these diastereomers are assigned. 1"-Oxobufuralol (3) was reduced with a complex of (2S)-(-)-2-amino-3-methyl-1,1-diphenylbutan-1-ol and borane, yielding 2, which had a 95:5 ratio of the possible 1"R and 1"S isomers as determined by HPLC. Separation of the resulting diastereomers was facilitated by derivatization with the enantiomers of 1-phenethyl isocyanate (PEIC). The absolute configurations 1'S,1"R and 1'R,1"R were assigned to the diastereomers formed in excess, 2c and 2b, on the basis of the known stereochemistry of reduction of closely related alkyl phenyl ketones to R alcohols by using this chiral borane reagent. The circular dichroism spectra of the four isomeric benzylic alcohols were in agreement with these assignments. In the presence of the rat liver microsomal fraction, benzylic hydroxylation of bufuralol was significantly product stereoselective favoring formation of diastereomers with the 1"R absolute stereochemistry at the new chiral center in products from (1'R)-1 by a ratio of 4.5:1 [(1'R,1"R)-2:(1'R,1"S)-2] and by nearly 8:1 [(1'S,1"R)-2:(1'S,1"S)-2] from (1'S)-1. (1'R)-Bufuralol was more rapidly hydroxylated than was (1'S)-1, by about 3-fold. In the presence of human liver microsomes, (1'R)-bufuralol was also more rapidly hydroxylated than was (1'S)-1, by ca. 2.5-fold. However, product stereoselectivity from the 1'R enantiomer was reversed from that observed in the rat liver microsomal oxidation, with more (1"S)-carbinol being formed than 1"R isomer by nearly 4-fold. From (1'S)-1, about equal amounts of the two possible hydroxybufuralol diastereomers were formed. The results from the human liver microsomal studies are consistent with observed enantioselectivity of hydroxylation of bufuralol in vivo in humans.