A concise synthesis of 7-Desmethylasteriscanolide and the discovery of an unusual fragmentation reaction to the related asteriscunolide skeleton

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(97)00769-2

A concise synthesis of 7-desmethylasteriscanolide is described. The key features include an efficient intramolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition of the α,β-unsaturated acid-ether 29 followed by a Curtius rearrangement/ruthenium tetroxide/fragmentation sequen