The first enantioselective total syntheses of the tetrahydroxanthenone (-)-blennolide C (ent-4) and related γ-lactonyl chromanone (-)-gonytolide C (ent-3) are reported. Key to the syntheses is an enantioselective domino-Wacker/carbonylation/methoxylation reaction to set up the stereocentre at C-4a. Various chiral BOXAX ligands were investigated, including novel (S,S)-iBu-BOXAX, and allowed access to chromane 8 in an excellent enantioselectivity of 99 %. The second stereocentre at C-4 was established employing a diastereoselective Sharpless dihydroxylation. An extensive survey of (DHQ)- and (DHQD)-based ligands enabled the preparation of both the anti-isomer 14 a and the syn-isomer 14 b in very good to reasonable selectivities of 13.7:1 and 1:3.7, respectively. While 14 a was further converted to ent-3 and ent-4, 14 b was elaborated to syn-acid 25 and 2'-epi-gonytolide C 28.

Syntheses of the lactonyl chromanones ent-3c and ent-3d ..

A range of spirocyclic γ-lactones have been prepared exploiting a Beckwith-Dowd ring expansion cascade involving 1-, 3-, 4-, and 5-carbon expansion of cyclopentanone and cyclohexanone followed by 5-exo-trig or 5-exo-dig cyclization. This radical cascade reaction can be achieved with various substrates to provide a broad range of γ-lactones spirofused to 6- to 10-membered cycloalkanones.

The reaction of hydrated lanthanoid chlorides (Ln = La, Eu) with chiral, carbohydrate-based diketonate ligands has yielded dimeric species with Ln 2 L 6 composition as determined by MALDI mass spectrometry and single-crystal Xray crystallography. The X-ray crystallographic analysis identified a chiral cavity formed by interligand repulsion able

The C-C bond fragmentation of carbocycles has been developed as a new method for the divergent synthesis of dendrimers. The scope of this reaction was examined with the preparation of six first generation dendrimers from structurally diverse and readily available fragmentation precursors. By pairing the fragmentation with a thio-Michael reaction, the preparation of a [G4]-ene(24) dendrimer has been achieved.