Magnesium bromide Diels-Alder reaction catalysts

In a much more complicated piece of work recently disclosed, two stereospecific aldehyde Diels-Alder reactions have been used in preparation of hikosamine derivative 29, a component of the antibacterial compound hizikimycin (Scheme 4-XIII).45k Diene 25 reacted with furfural to give cw-y-pyrone 26, which was transformed in several steps to aldehyde 27. Condensation of 27 with 25 using magnesium bromide as catalyst afforded only adduct 28, presumably via chelated intermediate 27A. Compound 28 was converted in a series of steps to acetylhikosamine 29. The methodlogy described here allowed total synthesis of this unusual sugar having 10 contiguous chiral centers with complete stereocontrol. 

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