Recent Advances in the Total Synthesis of Cyclobutane-Containing Natural Products Cite This: Org
Volume 7 | Number 1 | 7 January 2020 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY FRONTIERS rsc.li/frontiers-organic ORGANIC CHEMISTRY FRONTIERS View Article Online REVIEW View Journal | View Issue Recent advances in the total synthesis of cyclobutane-containing natural products Cite this: Org. Chem. Front., 2020, 7, 136 Jinshan Li,†a Kai Gao, †a Ming Bianb and Hanfeng Ding *a,c Complex natural products bearing strained cyclobutane subunits, including terpenoids, alkaloids and steroids, not only display fascinating architectures, but also show potent biological activities. Due to their unique structures as critical core skeletons in these molecules, a variety of new strategies for the con- Received 24th September 2019, struction of cyclobutane rings have greatly emerged during the last decade. In this review, we wish to Accepted 11th November 2019 summarize the recent progress in the cyclobutane-containing natural product synthesis with an emphasis DOI: 10.1039/c9qo01178a on disconnection tactics employed to forge the four-membered rings, aiming to provide a complement rsc.li/frontiers-organic to existing reviews. 1. Introduction stereoselectively, poses significant challenges in synthetic chemistry. On the other hand, cyclobutanes readily undergo a In the class of strained carbocycles, cyclobutanes have been number of ring-opening reactions by virtue of their tendency known as intriguing structural motifs for more than one to release inherent strain energies. In some cases, however, century but remained relatively less explored in parallel with striking ring strains can be dramatically reduced by the instal- their homologues.1 Due to the highly strained ring systems (ca. lation of a gem-dialkyl substituent (through the Thorpe–Ingold − 26.7 kcal mol 1), construction of cyclobutane rings, especially effect),2 a carbonyl group, a heteroatom, or other functional- ities (Fig.
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