Architectural self-construction in nature and chemical synthesis.

The chemistry of squalene oxide (1) exemplifies that architectural complexity can be encoded in the structures of relatively simple, polyunsaturated molecules. When the concept of architectural self-construction is an integral part of the design of a chemical synthesis, powerful strategies can be uncovered. this article addresses studies which showed that polyunsaturated, 19-membered ring carbocycle contains all of the molecular information that is required to give the stereochemically complex polycyclic architecture of the cytotoxic natural product FR182877.