Total Synthesis of Viridin and Viridiol

Abstract

The asymmetric total synthesis of (-)-viridin and (-)-viridiol, antifungal metabolites, was achieved in 17 and 18 steps from a commercially available starting material. An intramolecular [3+2] cycloaddition was applied to an easily available <i>l</i>-ribose derivative in order to construct the highly substituted D ring containing the key chiral <i>cis</i>-triol fragment. Co-catalyzed metal-hydride H atom transfer (MHAT) radical cyclization was utilized to form the C-ring and the all-carbon quaternary center at C-10. This convergent strategy provides a scalable approach to prepare viridin and viridiol for biological studies.