An effort toward the total synthesis
of the polyketide natural
product EBC-23 is reported. The asymmetric approach is convergent
and uses a late-stage Claisen-like enolate/acid chloride coupling
to establish a key 1,3-diketone intermediate. The 1,3-diketone target
is an oxidized form of the hydrated natural product, which fails to
spiroketalize. The convergent asymmetric synthesis uses an asymmetric
Noyori transfer hydrogenation of a β-furyl ketoester to enantioselectively
form a chiral furyl alcohol. An Achmatowicz/Jones/Luche three-step
reaction sequence was used to stereoselectively convert the furyl
alcohol into the 5-hydroxy-pyran-2-one. The absolute stereochemistry
of the 1,3-polyol fragment was established by a Leighton allylation.
A subsequent Grubbs cross-metathesis, and Evans acetalation were used
to install the 1,3-syn-diol stereochemistry.