The Total Synthesis of (±)‐Fumimycin

The antibiotic agent fumimycin has been synthesized for the first time. This natural product was found to inhibit the bacterial peptide deformylase and may represent a lead structure to a class of novel antibacterials. Our synthetic strategy towards fumimycin involved the following steps: Dakin oxidation of an aldehyde functionality, conversion of an oxime through radical fragmentation to form an N‐diphenylphosphoryl group, construction of an α‐trisubstituted amine by 1,2‐addition to a ketimine, a Claisen rearrangement with subsequent transition‐metal‐catalyzed olefin isomerization to install a propenyl chain and final amidation.