A phytochemical investigation of the cone of P. amabilis led to the isolation of Pseudolarenone (1), a structurally novel pentacyclic (5/11/5/6/5) nortriterpenoid lactone.1 Only few 11-membered large ring triterpenoids were isolated from nature.2,3 Ps...
A phytochemical investigation of the cone of P. amabilis led to the isolation of Pseudolarenone (1), a structurally novel pentacyclic (5/11/5/6/5) nortriterpenoid lactone.1 Only few 11-membered large ring triterpenoids were isolated from nature.2,3 Pseudolarenone (1) is the first 11-membered large ring triterpenoid with an unprecedented bicyclo[8.2.1]tridecane core. Although one group attempted to synthesize the bicyclo[8.2.1]tridecane compound, all efforts failed. Herein, nature once again exhibited its fascinating enchantment and excellent skill in the synthesis of complex natural products. Therefore, Pseudolarenone (1) will be an interesting target and challenge for synthetic chemistry.
In this paper, we describe a racemic synthesis of fragment A starting from commercially available Acetylfuran 3 and fragment B starting from commercially available Furfural 25. In addition, a method for enantioselective synthesis of fragment B and a method for enantioselective synthesis of fragment A in the future are described to synthesize ent-Pseudolarenone (2).