First Total Synthesis of Prionoid E,A Bioactive Rearranged Secoabietane Diterpene Quinone from Salvia prionitis

The first total synthesis of prionoid E ( 1 ), a rearranged secoabietane diterpene quinone isolated from Salvia prionitis, was achieved efficiently by means of Wacker oxidation (Scheme 5) and aldol condensation (Scheme 7) as the key steps in the synthetic sequence. Thus 1 was prepared in 15 steps in 3.7% yield starting on one hand from anisole (=methoxybenzene) and methylsuccinic anhydride (=dihydro‐3‐methylfuran‐2,5‐dione) via 4 (Scheme 3 and 5), and on the other hand from 2‐hydroxy‐2‐methylpropanoic acid via 5 (Scheme 6).