Total Synthesis of Racemic Thieno[3,2- f]thiochromene Tricarboxylate, a Luciferin from Marine Polychaeta Odontosyllis undecimdonta

Org Lett. 2023 Jul 7;25(26):4892-4897. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01696. Epub 2023 Jun 27.

Abstract

We report the first total synthesis of racemic Odontosyllis undecimdonta luciferin, a thieno[3,2-f]thiochromene tricarboxylate comprising a 6-6-5-fused tricyclic skeleton with three sulfur atoms in different electronic states. The key transformation is based on tandem condensation of bifunctional thiol-phosphonate, obtained from dimethyl acetylene dicarboxylate, with benzothiophene-6,7-quinone. The presented convergent approach provides the synthesis of the target compound with a previously unreported fused heterocyclic core in 11 steps, thus allowing for unambiguous confirmation of the chemical structure of Odontosyllis luciferin by 2D-NMR spectroscopy.