Saegusa enone synthesis

Palladium-catalyzed conversion of enol silanes to enones, also known as the Saegusa enone synthesis. 

The first total synthesis of the marine polycyclic ether toxin (-)-gambierol was accomplished in the laboratory of M. Sasaki. The introduction of the a,(3-unsaturation into the seven-membered H ring of the FGH tricyclic subunit proved to be problematic, because both the conventional selenium-based method and the Nicolaou oxidation with IBX failed. However, when the seven-membered ketone was treated with LiHMDS in the presence of TMSCI and EtsN, the corresponding silyl enol ether was formed, which was oxidized under Saegusa conditions to give the desired cyclic enone in high yield. Because of the small scale of the reaction, a large excess of Pd(OAc)2 was used in acetonitrile so the presence of a co-oxidant was not necessary. 

The Larock modified Saegusa oxidation conditions were utilized in the total synthesis of ( )-8,14-cedranoxide by M. lhara et al. The main strategy was to apply an intramolecular double Michael addition reaction to assemble the tricyclic cedranoid skeleton. The precursor five-membered enone was prepared in high yield from the corresponding substituted cyclopentanone in two steps. 

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