Introduction of the (-)-berkelic acid side chain and assignment of the C-22 stereochemistry.

A Kiyooka aldol condensation of an aldehyde with a trimethylsilyl ketene acetal and the oxazaborolidinone prepared from N-Ts-(S)-valine gives two of the four possible aldol adducts, which were oxidized and deprotected to complete the synthesis of (-)-berkelic acid and (-)-22-epi-berkelic acid. This synthesis establishes the absolute stereochemistry and assigns the stereochemistry at C-22. A biosynthetic pathway is proposed that is consistent with the known absolute stereochemistry at the quaternary carbon of spiciferone A, spicifernin, and berkelic acid and provides a simple explanation for the differing stereochemistry at C-18 and C-19 of spicifernin and berkelic acid.