Cephalotaxus diterpenoids are attractive natural products with intriguing molecular frameworks and promising biological features. As a structurally unusual member, (-)-cephalotanin B possesses an extraordinarily congested heptacyclic skeleton, three lactone units, and nine consecutive stereocenters. Herein, we report an enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-cephalotanin B based on a divergent asymmetric Michael addition reaction, a novel Pauson-Khand/deacyloxylation process discovered in the development of a second-generation stereoselective Pauson-Khand reaction protocol, and an epoxide-opening/elimination/dual-lactonization cascade to construct the challenging propeller-shaped A-B-C ring system as key transformations.
Keywords: We are grateful for financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21772153, 22071192) and the Science and Technology Department of Shaanxi Province (2019JM-151)..
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