Rhamnofolane, tigliane, and daphnane
diterpenoids are structurally
complex natural products with multiple oxygen functionalities, making
them synthetically challenging. While these diterpenoids share a 5/7/6-trans-fused ring system (ABC-ring), the three-carbon substitutions
at the C13- and C14-positions on the C-ring and appending oxygen functional
groups differ among them, accounting for the disparate biological
activities of these natural products. Here, we developed a new, unified
strategy for expeditious total syntheses of five representative members
of these three families, crotophorbolone (1), langduin
A (2), prostratin (3), resiniferatoxin (4), and tinyatoxin (5). Retrosynthetically, 1–5 were simplified into their common
ABC-ring 6 by detaching the three-carbon units and the
oxygen-appended groups. Intermediate 6 with six stereocenters
was assembled from four achiral fragments in 12 steps by integrating
three powerful transformations, as follows: (i) asymmetric Diels–Alder
reaction to induce formation of the C-ring; (ii) π-allyl Stille
coupling reaction to set the trisubstituted E-olefin
of the B-ring; and (iii) Eu(fod)3-promoted 7-endo cyclization of the B-ring via the generation of a bridgehead radical.
Then 6 was diversified into 1–5 by selective installation of the different functional groups.
Attachment of the C14-β-isopropenyl and isopropyl groups led
to 1 and 2, respectively, while oxidative
acetoxylation and C13,14-β-dimethylcyclopropane formation gave
rise to 3. Finally, formation of an α-oriented
caged orthoester by C13-stereochemical inversion and esterification
with two different homovanillic acids delivered 4 and 5 with a C13-β-isopropenyl group. This unified synthetic
route to 1–5 required only 16–20
total steps, demonstrating the exceptional efficiency of the present
strategy.