At otal synthesis of prunustatin A, aG RP78 molecular chaperone down-regulator,h as been achieved. The key step in the synthesis is an intramolecular transesterification of the b-keto ester alcohol intermediate to construct the 15-membered tetralactone core of the natural product.Microbial species have the capability to produce aw ide variety of bioactive compounds with previously unknown structures and variousb iological activities. Prunustatin A( 1,F igure 1), a1 5-memberedt etralactone antibiotic with a3 -formamidosalicylic moiety first isolatedi n2 005 by Shin-ya and co-workers from as train of Streptomycesv iolaceoniger 4521-SVS3, showed inhibitory activity against GRP78 expression inducedb y2 -deoxyglucose stimulationi nH T1080 cells.[1] Subsequents tudies established that the tetralactone moiety is made up of four subunits,( 4 S)-2,2-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3-oxo-5-phenylpentanoic acid, (S)-lactic acid, l-threonine, and (2S,3S)-2-hydroxy-3-methylpentanoic acid, as shown in Figure 1.[2] Prunustatin A( 1)i s similar in structure to SW-163A (2) [3] and neoantimycin (3). [4] neoantimycin (3)i sarare and unusualr ing-extended member of the antimycin class. The recent discoveryo f1 as as elective GRP78 molecular chaperone down-regulator,w hichc ould lead to the development of new approaches towards treating cancer,h ighlights the potential of this class as research probes.Antimycin A 3 ,o ne of the first knowna nd most potent inhibitors of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, binds to the quinone reduction site of the cytochrome bc 1 complex. Since UK-2A, an antimycin-class antibiotic, was first isolatedi n1 996 from as oil sample collecteda to ur campus by Shibata, Ta niguchi and co-workers, [5] we have been attempting to establish the structure-activity relationshipsa mong antimycin A 3 and UK-2A (Figure 2).[6] As an extension of our research, we have been engaged in studies towardt he synthesis and biological evaluation of 1.Herein, we report atotal synthesis of prunustatin A( 1).Our initial access to construct the tetralactone core of 1 was based on an intramolecular Mitsunobu reaction of 4 as previously reported (Scheme 1), [7] where we have developedt he CÀ Cb ond formation reactionb etween C1 and C11v ia Reformatsky reaction. However,a ll attempts at cyclizationsb etween O2 and C2 via intramolecular Mitsunobu reaction and other lactonization procedures resulted in the formation of undesired five-membered lactones.T his would be caused by the gem-dimethylg roups at C11.Recently,t he first total synthesis of 1 was reported, [8] where cyclized point was selected at O4 and C5 by conformational Scheme1.Our initial access to construct the tetralactone core of 1.Boc = tert-butyloxycarbonyl.[ analysisa nd molecular dynamics. With these results in mind, we embarkedo nanew synthetic strategy towards 1 that involved cyclization via transesterification of b-keto ester 8 followed by introduction of the gem-dimethyl groups at C11 (Scheme2). Conceptually,r ing-closure precursor 8 would be prepared by condensat...