| Abstract: | Synthesis of the Macrolide Antibiotic (?)-A2677IB Using Photolactonization as a Key Reaction and Computer Simulation as an Effective Aid in Optimization The title compound has been synthesized in a sequence of 21 steps starting from phenol. The cyclic skeleton has been built up in the earlier part of the synthesis by photolactonization. This reaction supplies C(6), with a functionality, not present in the target structure, but useful for oxygenation at C(4) and generation of the stereogenic center C(5). The Barton/McCombie reaction provides a product deoxygenated at C(6), but only after an adjacent oxirane ring has been opened at the cost of an increase in the number of overall steps. X-Ray structural information and computational modelling of appropriate molecules proved to be essential to selection of optimal conditions for various transformations. |
