A pharmaceutically important natural product, β‐lapachone, was efficiently synthesized in four steps in 70 % overall yield starting from commercially available 1,4‐naphthoquinone. The key step of the synthesis was the direct conversion of 2‐prenyl‐1,4‐naphthoquinone into β‐lapachone through an advantageous cyclization/hydration/oxidation cascade process.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.