A Synthesis of Baconipyrone Through New Catalyticasymmetric Methods: the Importance of N-heterocyclic Carbene Ligands Inasymmetric Olefin Metathesis and Asymmetric Allylicalkylation

The societal need for optically enriched molecules(e.g. in pharmaceuticals or new materials) continuesto drive the development of new synthetic methods forenantioselective synthesis. This work discusses thedevelopment of new chiral catalysts and ligands fortwo important synthetic synthetic methods: Ru-catalyzed asymmetric olefin metathesis, andCu-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation. Thesemethods were applied to a total synthesis of themarine natural product baconipyrone C. Otherhighlights include the development of a mild newmethod for the synthesis of the gamma-pyrone motifand the use of tethered ring-closing olefinmetathesis as an alternative to olefincross-metathesis. Practitioners of organic synthesisshould find this book particularly useful for the newcarbon-carbon bond-forming methods presented, as wellas the novel synthetic strategies.