Abstract
Trichodiene (1), a sesquiterpene hydrocarbon, was isolated from the extract of mycelium of Trichothecium roseum. The structure of trichodiene (1) was elucidated by Nozoe and Machida in 1970 via degradation and spectroscopy.1 Trichodiene (1) has been shown to be the biogenetic precursor of the trichothecane family of sesquiterpenoids as characterized by the cytotoxic fungal metabolite (-)-trichodermin (2).2,3 The structure and absolute stereochemistry of (-)-trichodermin (2) were determined by X-ray diffraction and, therefore, the structure and absolute stereochemistry of trichodiene (1) are now firmly established.4 We wish to report a total synthesis of (±)-trichodiene (1) via previously reported lactone 3.5,6