Communic acids: occurrence, properties and use as chirons for the synthesis of bioactive compounds.
Communic acids are diterpenes with labdane skeletons found in many plant species, mainly conifers, predominating in the genus Juniperus (fam. Cupresaceae). In this review we briefly describe their distribution and different biological activities (anti- bacterial, antitumoral, hypolipidemic, relaxing smooth muscle, etc.). This paper also includes a detailed explanation of their use as chiral building blocks for the synthesis of bioactive natural products. Among other uses, communic acids have proven useful as chirons for the synthesis of quassinoids (formal), abietane antioxidants, ambrox and other perfume fixatives, podolactone herbicides, etc., featuring shorter and more efficient processes.
Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Fuente Nueva, s/n. 18071 Granada, Spain. afbarre@ugr.es
Alejandro F
AF
Barrero
M Mar
MM
Herrador
Pilar
P
Arteaga
Jesús F
JF
Arteaga
Alejandro F
AF
Arteaga
D003500:Cyclization; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000737:chemistry*
D004224:Diterpenes; C461919:communic acid