Concise synthesis of arnottin I and (-)-arnottin II.

Application of the Buchwald protocol to the coupling of o-bromobenzoates and 1-tetralones directly affords benzodihydronaphthopyrones with a fused tetracyclic system. Aromatization of the 7,8-dimethoxy-2,3-methylenedioxy derivative yielded arnottin I, whereas oxidation with dioxirane afforded dihydroarnottin II composed of a spiro phthalide-tetralone system. Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation using AD-mix yielded optically active dihydroarnottin II with good enantioselectivity. The absolute stereochemistry of the stereogenic center in the (+)-spiro product was determined to be R by X-ray crystallographic analysis of the dibromo derivative. (+)-Dihydroarnottin II was subjected to successive bromination and dehydrobromination to prepare (-)-arnottin II. The R-configuration of natural (-)-arnottin II, previously assigned by application of the exciton chirality method to the Cotton effects observed in the CD spectrum, was confirmed by asymmetric synthesis.