Biomimetic Explorations Towards the Bisorbicillinoids: Total Synthesis of Bisorbicillinol, Bisorbibutenolide, and Trichodimerol.

Strikingly simple cascade dimerization sequences can be used to assemble the complex frameworks of bisorbicillinoids such as bisorbicillinol (1), bisorbibutenolide (2), and trichodimerol (3). The mechanistic facets of the biomimetic total syntheses of these bioactive natural products were also explored. Inspection of the unique molecular architecture of these compounds reveals that they are likely to be assembled in nature by a dimerization of two oxidized forms of sorbicillin.