A study towards the synthesis of (-)-atrop-abyssomicin C core

An attempt to synthesize the cyclohexane core of antibiotic abyssomicin C is described. The initial, protecting group-free approach (relying on internal protection) failed and had to be modified, in order to allow for efficient deprotection of the acid-sensitive cyclization precursor in the penultimate synthetic step. Thus, a pyranoside structural unit was used as a latent lactone/ester functionality, which was deprotected via thioacetalization/hydrolysis/oxidation sequence, to give the ?-valerolactone-type cyclization precursor. Unfortunately, the key cyclization reaction was not feasible, even after structural modification of the cyclization precursor. Reluctance towards cyclization turned out to be a general property of (at least some) ?7-unsaturated esters, which required the development of a new strategy for this type of transformation.