Alternate Syntheses of Taxodione

Abstract

Taxodione 9a has received considerable attention since its isolation¹ presumably due largely to its anti-tumoral activity² and various syntheses of this extended quinone have been published³. Since several laboratories have recently reported their work in this area we feel obliged to describe our own findings. We wished to demonstrate that our synthetic approach to coleons U, C and B⁴ involving para-quinonoid intermediates could be made more general by extending the method to other systems which would necessitate passing via ortho-quinones. Taxodione offered us such an opportunity.