A nice bit of metathesis and use of symmetry in this latest CW article, found in this month’s Chemistry World.  The original paper is here; also worth reading is a ‘core-synthesis’ by Chada Raji Reddy, which just dropped into Org. Lett.

McDonald, Robles. Org. Lett., 2009, ASAP. DOI: 10.1021/ol902365n. It’s been a little while, but there’s been nothing too exciting (total synthesis-wise) in JACS or ACIEE.  However, a quick glance in Org. Lett. produced a veritable cornucopia of...

Brimble, Rathwell, Yang and Tsang ACIEE, 2009, EarlyView. DOI: 10.1002/anie.200903316. Now for something rather different… indeed, we’ve only got one stereocenter in rubromycin, and the synthesis is racemic.  However, one of the toughest and most...

Baran, Maimone, Shi, Ashida. JACS, 2009, ASAP. DOI: 10.1021/ja908194b. Yep, it’s done.  Surprised?  You shouldn’t be, not after the Angewandte published last year, which was tantalisingly close to the natural product.  For the uninitiated,...

Magnus, Sane, Fauber, Lynch. JACS, 2009, ASAP. DOI: 10.1021/ja9085534. I don’t think we’ve covered many targets I’ve actually ingested; and I’ve done most of the family too.  The morphine was a bit ‘meh’, as I was so out-of-it I couldn’t really...