A Synthesis of Baconipyrone through New Catalytic Asymmetric Methods

The societal need for optically enriched molecules (e.g. in pharma-ceuticals or new materials) continues to drive the development of new synthetic methods for enantioselective synthesis. This work discusses the development of new chiral catalysts and ligands for two important synthetic synthetic methods: Ru-catalyzed asymmetric olefin metathesis, and Cu-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation. These methods were applied to a total synthesis of the marine natural product baconipyrone C. Other highlights include the development of a mild new method for the synthesis of the gamma-pyrone motif and the use of tethered ring-closing olefin metathesis as an alternative to olefin cross-metathesis. Practitioners of organic synthesis should find this book particularly useful for the new carbon-carbon bond-forming methods presented, as well as the novel synthetic strategies.