Highly convergent total synthesis of (+)-acutiphycin.

An enantioselective, convergent, total synthesis of (+)-acutiphycin (18 steps, longest linear sequence from commercial materials) features the first application of an alkynyl ether as a macrolactone precursor in total synthesis, as well as the first example of an intermolecular, SmI2-mediated, Reformatsky fragment coupling reaction. The high convergence, efficiency, and modular nature of this synthesis make it amenable to the synthesis of structurally related compounds.