Natural products dodecahedrane

The availability of cyclopentenones from butanolides allows the lactone annulation to facilitate the synthesis of cyclopentyl natural and unnatural products. An example that highlights the latter is dodecahedrane (178) for which 179 constitutes a critical synthetic intermediate 136,137). Lateral fusion of cyclopentenones as present in 179 can arise by acid induced reorganization and dehydration of 180. While a variety of routes can be envisioned to convert a ketone such as 182 into 180, none worked satisfactorily137 On the other hand, the cyclobutanone spiro-annulation approach via 181 proceeds in 64 % overall yield. Thus, the total carbon cource of dodecahedrane derives from two building blocks — cyclopentadiene and the cyclopropyl sulfonium ylide. 

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