A.L.-P. thanks CSIC for a contract under the JAE-doctor
program. Financial support by PLE2009 project from MCIINN
and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (proyecto MULTICAT) are also
acknowledged.

Gold-catalyzed carbon-heteroatom bond-forming reactions.

With the exception of palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings, no other group of reactions has had such a profound impact on the formation of carbon-carbon bonds and the art of total synthesis in the last quarter of a century than the metathesis reactions of olefins, enynes, and alkynes. Herein, we highlight a number of selected examples of total syntheses in which such processes played a crucial role and which imparted to these endeavors certain elements of novelty, elegance, and efficiency. Judging from their short but impressive history, the influence of these reactions in chemical synthesis is destined to increase.

Metathesis Reactions in Total Synthesis

Allenes are the simplest class of cumulenes, with two contiguous CC bonds, and show unique physical and chemical properties. These features make allenes particularly attractive in modern organic chemistry. In this Review, attention is paid to the advances made in catalytic asymmetric synthesis and natural product syntheses based on well-established reactions of allenes, such as propargylation, addition, cycloaddition, cycloisomerization, cyclization, etc., with or without catalysts. Their versatile reactivity, substituent-loading ability, axial to center chirality transfer, and controllable selectivity allow access to target molecules by unique and efficient approaches. The main topics in this Review are presented with selected examples from 2003 to 2011.

Allenes in Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis and Natural Product Syntheses

One can view plants as a reference library of compounds waiting to be searched by a chemist who is looking for a particular property. Taxol, a complex polyoxygenated diterpene isolated from the Pacific Yew, Taxus brevifolia, was discovered during extensive screening of plant materials for antineoplastic agents during the late 1960s. Over the last two decades, interest in and research related to taxol has slowly grown to the point that the popular press now seems poised to scoop each new development. What was once an obscure compound, of interest only to the most masochistic of synthetic chemists and an equally small number of cellular biologists, has become one of the few organic compounds, which, like benzene and aspirin, is recognizable by name to the average citizen. In parallel, the scientific study of taxol has blossomed. Physicians are currently studying its effects on nearly every known neoplasm. Biologists are using taxol to study the mechanisms of cell function by observing the effects of its interactions with the cellular skeletal systems. Synthetic chemists, absorbed by the molecule's unique and sensitive structure and functionality, are exploring seemingly every available pathway for its synthesis. Indeed, the demand for taxol has risen so in the last five years that alternative sources to the extraction of T. brevifolia are being vigorously pursued. Because of the rapidly expanding scope of research in the multifaceted study of taxol, those who are interested in the field may find acquisition of a reasonable base of knowledge an arduous task. For this reason, this account attempts to bring together, for the first time, in a cogent overview the chemistry and biology of this unique molecule.

Chemistry and Biology of Taxol

I. Introduction 1485II. Scope of This Review 1485III. Transformations of Cyclobutane Derivatives inOrganic Syntheses1486A. Ring-Opening Reactions 1486B. Ring-Contraction Reactions 1493C. Ring-Expansion Reactions 14951. Five-Membered Rings 14952. Six-Membered Rings 15093. Seven-Membered Rings 15174. Eight-Membered Rings 15215. Nine-Membered Rings 1523IV. Transformations of Cyclobutane Derivatives inNatural Product Syntheses1524A. Ring-Opening Reactions 1524B. Ring-Expansion Reactions 15261. Five-Membered Rings 15262. Six-Membered Rings 15293. Seven-Membered Rings 15324. Eight-Membered Rings 1533V. Conclusion 1534VI. Acknowledgments 1534VII. References 1534

The application of cyclobutane derivatives in organic synthesis.

Formal synthesis of (+/-)-guanacastepene A: a tandem ring-closing metathesis approach.

Gold(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerization of 1,7- and 1,8-enyne propargylic acetates afforded cyclopropyl derivatives containing seven- and eight-membered rings, respectively. This reaction was used for the synthesis of a new allocolchicinoid having a cyclopropane ring fused to the B seven-membered ring at the C6-C7 positions.

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Issam Hanna

Papers

Formal synthesis of (+/-)-guanacastepene A: a tandem ring-closing metathesis approach.

Gold(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerization of 1,7- and 1,8-enynes: application to the synthesis of a new allocolchicinoid.

From galactose to highly functionalized seven- and eight-membered carbocyclic rings by ring-closing metathesis.

Synthesis of a highly functionalized tricyclic ring system related to guanacastepene via a tandem ring-closing metathesis reaction

Synthesis of allocolchicines using sequential ring-closing enyne metathesis-Diels-Alder reactions.