Combinatorial synthesis of natural product-like molecules using a first-generation spiroketal scaffold

Recently, significant attention has been focused on the synthesis small-molecule libraries based on natural product or natural product-like structures. In this paper, we report our initial studies on the use of the 1,7-dioxaspiro[5,5]undecane (spiroketal) moiety as a rigid-core template for elaboration using parallel synthesis techniques. The synthesis of a spiroketal scaffold that is reminiscent of the spiroketal subunits found in the spiroketal macrolide antibiotics will be described. Elaboration of three independently addressable functional groups on the scaffold using solution-phase parallel synthesis techniques led to the preparation of a small library of natural product-like compounds. These studies pave the way for evaluation of highly functionalized spiroketals in phenotypic assays and as prospective antagonists of protein-protein interactions.