Stereocontrolled generation of the (2R) chroman core of vitamin E: total synthesis of (2R,4'RS,8'RS)-alpha-tocopherol.

(2R,4'RS,8'RS)-alpha-tocopherol (1) was prepared using, as the two key steps, a novel diastereoselective TiCl(4)-promoted (S)-sulfoxide-directed allylation of ketal 2 with allyl trimethyl silane 3 to efficiently generate the challenging (2R) stereocenter of the chroman moiety and a cross-metathesis reaction with olefin 4 to efficiently join the lipophilic alkyl chain present in the final target.