Triumphs in the Synthesis of Unnatural and Natural Products

Both dodecahedrane, (CH)2o, and buckminsterfullerene, Qo, appear to thwart entropy by folding 20 atoms and 60 atoms, respectively, into spheroid molecules of icosahedral symmetry. Unlike C o, dodecahedrane 

Perhaps no molecule synthesized during the 1980s better reflects the fruits of asymmetric catalysis and new carbon-carbon bond-form- 

10 possible stereoisomers. Kishi assembled palytoxin from eight preassembled units (see dashed lines in its strucmre). The amazing advance in synthesis from racemic vitamin to optically pure palytoxin reflects the 

The toxicity of palytoxin, determined by experiments and molecular modeling, originates in its disabling of the sodium/potassium cell membrane pump (see chapter 8). 

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