Asymmetric construction of six vicinal stereogenic centers on hexahydroxanthones via organocatalytic one-pot reactions

Chem Commun (Camb). 2021 Jul 8;57(55):6764-6767. doi: 10.1039/d1cc02570h.

Abstract

Inspired by the chemistry and biology of hexahydroxanthones, herein we report an organocatalytic Michael-Michael-Aldol-decarboxylation reaction that provides efficient access to biologically interesting fully substituted hexahydroxanthones bearing six contiguous stereogenic centers from readily accessible materials in acceptable yields (up to 63%) and excellent stereoselectivities (up to 10 : 1 dr and >99% ee). In other words, the reaction efficiently produces three chemical bonds and up to six vicinal stereogenic centers in a one-pot operation. In particular, to our knowledge, this is an asymmetric organocatalytic strategy enabling the first construction of six vicinal stereogenic centers on non-spirocyclic hexahydroxanthone frameworks.