Described herein are the first total syntheses of naturally occurring antitumor agents disorazoles A and B and the full structural assignment of the latter. The syntheses were achieved through convergent strategies employing enantioselective constructions of the required building blocks, including a novel Sharpless epoxidation/enzymatic kinetic resolution of stannane-containing substrates that led selectively to both enantiomeric forms of an epoxy vinyl stannane, and a series of coupling reactions, including a Wittig reaction, a Suzuki coupling, a Stille coupling, a Yamaguchi esterification and a Yamaguchi macrolactonization.

The remarkable biological activities of polyprenylated polycyclic acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs) combined with their highly decorated bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-2,4,9-trione frameworks have inspired synthetic organic chemists over the last decade. The concise total syntheses of four natural products PPAPs; hyperforin and papuaforins A-C, and the formal synthesis of nemorosone are reported. Key to the realization of this strategy is the short and scalable synthesis of densely substituted PPAP scaffolds through a gold(I)-catalyzed 6-endo-dig carbocyclization of cyclic enol ethers for late-stage functionalization.

Bicyclo[m.n.1]alkenone frameworks possessing quaternary carbon centers adjacent to a bridged ketone are frequently found in bioactive natural products. Although several methods have been developed to construct such frameworks, most of them are specific to a particular scaffold. Herein, we report a mild and highly efficient method to generate carbon-bridged frameworks of various sizes using phosphino gold(I) catalysts.

The remarkable biological activities of polyprenylated polycyclic acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs) combined with their highly oxygenated and densely functionalized frameworks have stimulated the interest of synthetic organic chemists over the past decade. Herein, we report the concise total syntheses of four natural products PPAPs, of which some have antibacterial properties, notably hyperforin and papuaforin A. The salient features of this strategy are the short and gram-scalable synthesis of densely substituted PPAPs scaffolds via a Au(I)-catalyzed carbocyclization and the late-stage functionalization for a unified access to a wide variety of PPAPs.

Modular syntheses of disorazoles A1 and B1 analogues in which the epoxide moieties of the natural products were replaced with cyclopropyl units have been achieved. Targeted as part of a structure–activity relationships study, these syntheses were successfully extended to the thiazole counterparts of these analogues. The retrosynthetically defined fragments were assembled through Yamaguchi esterification, Cu/Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling, Yamaguchi macrolactonization, and Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling as the key reactions. Further synthetic and biological investigations of such analogues are expected to lead to the discovery and development of potential payloads for antibody–drug conjugates as targeted cancer therapies.