Fischer carbene catalysis of alkynol cycloisomerization: application to the synthesis of the altromycin B disaccharide.

[reaction: see text] The tungsten-catalyzed cycloisomerization of alkynyl alcohols can be conducted without using photochemistry, using a stable tungsten Fischer carbene as the precatalyst for this transformation. A variety of alkynyl alcohols undergo cycloisomerization under these conditions to provide endocyclic enol ethers of five-, six-, and seven-membered ring sizes. The utility of this method is further demonstrated in the stereoselective synthesis of the disaccharide substructure of altromycin B.