Stereoselective Total Synthesis of Sesquiterpenoids: (+)-Sativene and (+)-Cyclosativene

Abstract

The well-known tricyclic sesquiterpenoid (−)-sativene, isolated in 1965 from Helminthosporium sativum and shown to possess structure and absolute configuration as indicated by structure 1 ³, has been implicated^3,4 as an intermediate in the biogenesis of the fungal toxin (−)-helminthosporal (2)⁵. Two total syntheses of the racemic modification of sativene have been reported^6,7. A closely related sesquiterpenoid, (+)-cyclosativene, was isolated from Abies magnifica A. Murr. and was shown to possess structure 3 ^8,9. The absolute configuration of this material, although not established unambiguously, has been proposed¹⁰ as indicated by formula 3. The total synthesis of cyclosativene has not as yet been achieved directly, although it has been obtained indirectly via acid-promoted rearrangement of sativene^8,9,11,12. We report herein a total synthesis of (+)-sativene (4) and (+)-cyclosativene (3) via a stereoselective route which unambiguously establishes the absolute configuration of both natural products.