title: An expeditious synthesis of (+/-)-desepoxy-4,5-didehydromethylenomycin a methyl ester
abstract: [formula: see text] A total synthesis of the racemic methyl ester of desepoxy-4,5-didehydromethylenomycin A has been achieved in six steps with an overall yield of 31% starting from diethyl methanephosphonate. The key steps include the Nazarov cyclization of the dienone 7 leading to the alpha-phosphoryl cyclopentenone 8 and the Horner-Wittig reaction of the latter employed for the introduction of the exocyclic methylene moiety.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland.
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balczewski
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mikolajczyk