Vannusals A (1 a, Figure 1) and B (1 b) are two marine natural products notable for their unusual molecular architectures. Isolated from the tropical interstitial ciliate Euplotes vannus strains Si121 and BUN3, these intriguing molecules include in their C 30 molecular framework seven rings and thirteen stereogenic centers, three of which are quaternary. Their structures have been assigned on the basis of mass spectrometric and NMR spectroscopic data and chemical transformations. [1,2] Herein we report the total synthesis of structure 1 b that proved that it does not represent the true structure of vannusal B.Our retrosynthetic analysis of the vannusal molecule dissected it as shown in Figure 2, revealing vinyl iodide 2 and aldehyde 3 as the key building blocks required for the projected total synthesis. The devised strategy anticipated their fusion through two carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions, namely lithiation of 2 followed by addition of 3 to join them, and a samarium-induced ring closure of a subsequent intermediate to forge the final ring of the target molecule.Scheme 1 summarizes the construction of vinyl iodide 2 from the commercially available meso diol 4. Thus, dehydration of 4 through the action of POCl 3 (py, 90 8C) furnished conjugated diene 5 (97 % yield), [3] which was regio-and stereoselectively converted into the new meso diol 6 by a hydroboration-oxidation process (CyBH 2 ; H 2 O 2 , NaOH, 51 % yield). The latter compound was then desymmetrized through the enantioselective hydrolytic action of Lipase Amano PS [4] on its bis-acetate (prepared in quantitative yield by reaction of 6 with Ac 2 O in the presence of 4-DMAP), leading to the monoacetate 7 in 100 % yield and 99 % ee (determined by Mosher ester analysis). Silylation of 7 (TBDPSCl, imid, 93 % yield) followed by acetate cleavage (DIBAL-H, 98 % yield) and treatment of the resulting alcohol with Martins sulfurane (Et 3 N, CH 2 Cl 2 , 91 % yield) afforded enantiomerically pure cyclopentene derivative 8. The planned stereoselective epoxidation of 8 was achieved through a two-step procedure that involved first iodohydrin formation (NIS, H 2 O), and then ring closure (K 2 CO 3 , MeOH) to give b-epoxide 9 in 91 % overall yield. This epoxide was then regio-and stereoselectively opened with 2-lithiopropene (generated from the corresponding bromide and tBuLi) in the presence of BF 3 ·Et 2 O to afford hydroxy compound 10 (83 % yield), whose stereochemistry was inverted through application of a Mitsunobu (pNO 2 C 6 H 4 CO 2 H, Ph 3 P, DEAD) [5] /ester cleavage (DIBAL-H) protocol, leading to the desired hydroxy compound 11 in 90 % overall yield. With the proper stereochemistry now installed on 11, a BOM group was placed on the free hydroxy group (BOMCl, iPr 2 NEt) and the TBDPS group was removed (TBAF, 97 % overall yield) to furnish compound 12. The newly generated hydroxy group within 12 was then oxidized [NMO, TPAP (cat.), 96 % yield], and the resulting ketone was converted into its tris-hydrazone 13 (TrisNHNH 2 , 80 % yield). Finally, the targeted...