Levoglucosone (LGO) is a bio-privileged molecule that can be produced on scale from waste biomass. This chiral building block has been converted via well-established chemical processes into previously difficult-to-synthesize building blocks such as enantiopure butenolides, dihydropyrans, substituted cyclopropanes, deoxy-sugars and ribonolactones. LGO is an excellent starting material for the synthesis of biologically active compounds, including those which have anti-cancer, anti-microbial or anti-inflammatory activity. This review will cover the conversion of LGO to biologically active compounds as well as provide future research directions related to this platform molecule.
Keywords: bio-mass; chiral building block; drug discovery; levoglucosenone; platform chemical.
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