Pure and Applied Chemistry

Abstract: The total synthesis of (−)-cabenegrin A-I was achieved via (−)-6aR,11aR maackiain, which was obtained by optical resolution of racemic maackiain using S-(−)-alpha-methylbenzyl isocyanate. The synthesis of rac-maackiain was performed both with the Heck oxyarylation of 7-benzyloxy-2H-chromene and the BF₃OEt₂ mediated ring closure of isoflavan-4-ol derivatives, the latter of which provided much higher yields. The first enantioselective synthesis of trans-6aS,11aR-pterocarpan and its conversion to cis-6aS,11aS -ptarocarpan was also presented starting from racemic 2'-benzyloxyflavanone. Their stereochemistry was deduced by circular dichroism (CD) as well as by X-ray analysis of the ketal intermediate.