Trilobatin [4'-(β-D-glucopyranosyloxy)-2',4",6'-trihydroxydihydrochalcone] was synthesized from commercially available naringin in three steps with an overall yield of 30%. The key step was the acid-catalyzed site-selective hydrolysis of terminal α-rhamnopyranosidic linkage in neohesperidose involved in naringin under controlled conditions, by applying a high-pressure steam sterilizer.

Metabolically stable C‐glycosides are an essential family of compounds in bioactive natural products, therapeutic agents, and biological probes. For their application, development of synthetic methods by connecting glycosides and aglycons with strict stereocontrol at the anomeric carbon, as well as with high functional‐group compatibility and environmental compatibility is a pivotal issue. Although Suzuki–Miyaura‐type C(sp3)−C(sp2) cross‐coupling using glycosyl boronates is a potential candidate for the construction of C‐glycosides, neither the cross‐coupling itself nor the facile synthesis of the coupling precursor, glycosyl boronates, have been achieved to date. Herein, it was succeeded to develop a copper‐catalyzed stereoselective one‐step borylation of glycosyl bromides to glycosyl boronates and palladium‐catalyzed stereospecific cross‐coupling of β‐glycosyl borates with aryl bromides to give aryl β‐C‐glycosides, in which the β‐configuration of the anomeric carbon of the glycosyl trifluoroborates is stereoretentively transferred to that of the resulting aryl C‐glycosides.

We developed a one-step synthesis of acylborons from both readily available acyl chlorides and bis(pinacolato)diboron through copper(I)-catalyzed borylation. Under the reaction conditions using t BuOLi, polystyrene-supported triphenylphosphine as a copper ligand was found to promote the borylation of acyl chlorides while suppressing alcoholysis. This method enables the facile synthesis of potassium acyltrifluoroborates.

Hot water extraction of D-arabinofuranosylvitexin from the raw leaves of commercially available Basella alba “Tsurumurasaki” and subsequent acidic hydrolysis was improved to be a procedure using a high-pressure steam sterilizer to afford vitexin. The amount was estimated to be 14.1 mg from 1 g of dry weight of the raw leaves, whose recovery was calculated to be 95% based on the estimated content of D-arabinofuranosylvitexin in B. alba raw leaves. The product was dehydratively cyclized between hydroxy groups on the carbohydrate and flavone skeletons under modified Mitsunobu reaction conditions in N,N-dimethylformamide to give chafuroside B, which is known to be a bioactive Oolong tea polyphenol. Through these transformations, 10.2 mg of chafuroside B could be semisynthesized from 1 g of dry weight of the raw leaves, and the efficiency was improved compared to that from the extraction from Oolong tea (3.4 μg from 1 g of dry weight).