Tetramic acid antibiotics

It is somewhat surprising to find that there have been only three published reviews on tetramic acids. The first reports on the advances in tetramic acid chemistry up to 1993 [1], another describes the synthesis of tetramic acid antibiotics [3], and a third, dealing with the structure, isolation and synthesis of naturally occurring tetramic acids, was published in 1995 [4]. The present review is an attempt to cover the field of tetramic acid metabolites with particular emphasis on the structure, biosynthesis and biological activity of these compounds. 

C. (+)-IKARUGAMYCIN, AN UNUSUAL MACROCYCLIC TETRAMIC ACID ANTIBIOTIC... 

Miscellaneous Reactions.- A full report has appeared of the use of /er/-butyl 4-diethylphosphono-3-oxobutanthioates (232) in olefination reactions for the preparation of homologated 3-oxobutanthioates and hence of tetramic acid derivatives. The reaction of the phosphonate dianion (234) with the aldehyde (233) is a key step in a total synthesis of the tetramic acid antibiotic ( .)-tirandamycin B (235). Olefinations involving both ylides and phosphonates have been used to construct the triene (236) en route to the spirotetronate subunit of the aglycone of the antitumour antibiotic... 

The Tetramic Acid Antibiotics a- and (5-Lipomycin Total Synthesis and Assignment of the Absolute Configuration of All Stereogenic Centers. Making Doubly Sure... 

Having thus established the main stereochemical features, the Claisen rearrangement of glycal esters could be further utilized to provide key intermediates for a number of natural product syntheses Carbohydrates served as starting materials in the total synthesis of the ionophore antibiotics lasalocid A 43 by Ireland et al. [15] and indanomycin 46 by Ley et al. [16] (Scheme 8), as well as the 3-acyl tetramic acid antibiotics tirandamycic acid 49 [17] and (+)-streptolic acid 52 [18] (Ireland et al.. Scheme 9). Several further examples have been reported in the literature [19-21]. 

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