The Clark Synthesis of Vigulariol
Chemexpress Vigulariol (3), isolated from the octocoral Vigularia juncea (Pallas), is active against human lung adenocarcinoma cells (IC50 = 18 nM). A key step in the synthesis of 3 reported (Angew.…
The Pettus Synthesis of (+)-Rishirilide B
(+)-Rishirilide (4), an inhibitor of α2-macroglobulin, a tetrameric serum glycoprotein that is an irreversible protease inhibitor, has a deceptively simple structure. Thomas R. R. Pettus of the University of California…
The Padwa Synthesis of Aspidophytidine
Albert Padwa of Emory University has developed (Org. PMID:23664186 Fmoc-Ala-OH supplier Lett. 2006, 8, 3275. DOI: 10.1021/ol061137i) a productive approach to fused indole alkaloids such as aspidophytine (3), based on…
The Nakada Synthesis of (+)-Digitoxigenin
The total synthesis of steroids such as (+)-digitoxigenin (3) has been studied for more than sixty years, yet it has never been thought that such studies would lead to a…
The Nicolaou Synthesis of Platensimycin
The report last year by scientists at Merck of an antibiotic, platensimycin3, with a novel mechanism of action has led to much effort toward the total synthesis of this degraded…
Synthesis of (-)-Colombiasin A and (-)-Elisapterosin B
Historically, there have been three methods for assembling enantiomerically-pure carbocycles: cyclization of an enantiomerically-pure starting material, enantioselective cyclization of a prochiral substrate, and enantioselective transformation of a prochiral cyclic starting…
Transition metal-catalyzed reactions
Jin-Quan Yu of Cambridge University reports (Org. PMID:35567400 Lett. 2003, 5, 4665. DOI: 10.1021/ol0358509) that Pd nanoparticles catalyze the hydrogenolysis of benzylic epoxides. The reaction proceeds with inversion of absolute…
Enantioselective Construction of Arrays of Stereogenic Centers
Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation has long been a workhorse of enantioselective synthesis. The SAE protocol, however, gives only mediocre ee’s with cis allylic alcohols such as nerol (1). PMID:23381626 Hisashi Yamamoto…
Clean Chemical Synthesis in Water
Green or sustainable chemistry has now attained the status of a major scientific discipline (Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, 1998, Oxford Press) and the studies in this area have led…
Functional Group Protection
Alcohols are the most common functional group protected, and benzyl is the most commonly used alcohol protecting group. Gregory B. Dudley of Florida State University has developed (J. Org. Chem.…