The asymmetric synthesis of both enantiomers of the δ-lactone analogue of the antitumoral
natural product γ-lactone muricatacin has been carried out. Initial attempts to also
synthesize the natural product proved unsuccessful due to the poor reactivity of the
Grignard reagent derived from 2-(bromomethyl)-1,3-dioxolane. The designed synthetic
route enabled us to increase the ring size to generate the δ-lactone analogue employing
Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation and ZrCl4-catalyzed intramolecular acetalization as the key steps.
Key words
muricatacin - asymmetric synthesis - zirconium tetrachloride - natural product analogues
- δ-lactone