The Titanium-Mediated Double Reductive Cleavage of Cyclic Sulfonamides for the Synthesis of Aryl Pyrrolidines

Reduction of a range of benzo-fused cyclic sulfonamides has been accomplished using low-valent titanium. This operationally simple method generates the corresponding aryl-substituted cyclic amines, typically, with good conversion. Notably, unlike our previous Li-NH3-based method, loss of heteroatom-based substituents (X) on the aromatic ring does not readily occur, and the robustness of this method was demonstrated with a synthesis of the Sceletium alkaloid mesembrane.