A facile three-step total synthesis of tanshinone I

Abstract

A facile synthetic approach for total synthesis of tanshinone I has been accomplished. The key precursor is a novel compound, epoxy phenanthraquinone. And this synthesis of tanshinone I is achieved in only three simple stages, which include Diels–Alder reaction, Δ²-Weitz–Scheffer-type epoxidation, and Feist–Bénary reaction from commercially available styrene.

Keywords:

• Tanshinone I
• total synthesis
• Diels–Alder reaction
• peroxidation
• Feist–Bénary reaction

Acknowledgments

We thank University of Science & Technology Beijing for financial support of this work.