Synthesis of homo- and heteroprotected furcated units for modular chemistry

Mild decarboxylative activation of malonic acid derivatives by 1,1'-carbonyldiimidazole

Malonic acid derivatives undergo unusually mild decarboxylation when treated with N,N'-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) at room temperature to generate the carbonyl imidazole moiety in high yield, which can be reacted further with a variety of nucleophiles in an efficient one-pot process.

Synthesis of the Core Structure of Cruentaren A

The core structure of the macrolactone cruentaren A (1) was prepared via a ring-closing alkyne metathesis reaction. The corresponding ester 33 was constructed from the benzoic acid derivative 14 and the diol 30. As a key step in the synthesis of acid 14, an aldol reaction resulted in the required anti-OH/Me pattern. The anti-configuration in the stereotetrad of diol 30 was established by a Marshall reaction. [reaction: see text].

Synthetic studies towards furanocembrane diterpenes. A total synthesis of bis-deoxylophotoxin

Synthetic approaches to the furanocembrane family of natural products, e.g. lophotoxins, pukalides, bipinnatins, based on: i) an intramolecular cyclisation of an alpha,beta-unsaturated acyl radical intermediate into a conjugated enone, and ii) an intramolecular Stille coupling reaction involving a 2-stannylfuran and a vinyl iodide, are described. A total synthesis of bis-deoxylophotoxin , the probable biological precursor to the neurotoxin lophotoxin, isolated from species of the Pacific sea whip Lophogorgia, is then presented.