Assembly of Terpenoid Cores by a Simple, Tunable Strategy

Oxygenated, polycyclic terpenoid natural products have important biological activities. Although total synthesis of such terpenes is widely studied, synthetic strategies that allow for controlled placement of oxygen atoms and other functionality remains a challenge. Herein, we present a simple, scalable, and tunable synthetic strategy to assemble terpenoid‐like polycycloalkanes from cycloalkanones, malononitrile, and allylic electrophiles, abundantly available reagent classes. How to Cope with a synthesis problem: Total synthesis of oxygenated, polycyclic terpenes is widely studied, although synthetic strategies that allow for controlled placement of oxygen atoms and other functionality remains a challenge. Here presented is a simple, scalable, and tunable synthetic strategy to assemble terpenoid‐like polycycloalkanes from cycloalkanones, malononitrile, and allylic electrophiles.