The advent of well-defined catalysts for olefin metathesis which combine high activity, durability, and excellent tolerance towards polar functional groups has revolutionized the field. The past decade has seen the rapid embrace of these reagents as tools for advanced organic and polymer chemistry and the success of this development is witnessed by a plethora of elegant applications to the synthesis of natural and nonnatural products. This review article provides an overview of these developments and intends to familiarize the reader with some very recent advances which hold the promise to expand the scope of the reaction even further. Moreover, the positive impact of metathesis on the fundamental logic of retrosynthetic planning is demonstrated by means of typical examples. Finally, it will be shown that metathesis is by no means restricted to alkenes as substrates, and some comments on metathesis reactions following unconventional mechanistic pathways will also be presented.

Olefin Metathesis and Beyond

http://aether.cmi.ua.ac.be/artikels/Artikels%20Gitte/Artikels/Reviews/Trans.%20Metal.%20catal.%20reactions%20Chem.%20rev.%20042127.pdf

Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Reactions in Heterocyclic Synthesis

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

Olefinmetathese und mehr

Advances in the chemical synthesis of C-pyranosides/furanosides are summarized, covering the literature from 2000 to 2016. The majority of the methods take advantage of the construction of the glycosidic C—C bond. These C-glycosylation methods are categorized herein in terms of the glycosyl donor precursors, which are commonly used in O-glycoside synthesis and are easily accessible to nonspecialists. They include glycosyl halides, glycals, sugar acetates, sugar lactols, sugar lactones, 1,2-anhydro sugars, thioglycosides/sulfoxides/sulfones, selenoglycosides/telluroglycosides, methyl glycosides, and glycosyl imidates/phosphates. Mechanistically, C-glycosylation reactions can involve glycosyl electrophilic/cationic species, anionic species, radical species, or transition-metal complexes, which are discussed as subcategories under each type of sugar precursor. Moreover, intramolecular rearrangements, such as the Claisen rearrangement, Ramberg–Backlund rearrangement, and 1,2-Wittig rearrangement, which usuall...

Recent Advances in the Chemical Synthesis of C-Glycosides

Aluminum- and boron-mediated c-glycoside synthesis from 1,2-anhydroglycosides.

This paper describes a formal total synthesis of the marine ladder toxin hemibrevetoxin B from Danishefsky's dienes. This approach couples the generation of C-glycosides from cyclic enol ethers wit...

C-glycosides to fused polycyclic ethers. A formal synthesis of (+/-)-hemibrevetoxin B.

C-Glycosides to fused polycyclic ethers

Gambierol, a representative of the marine ladder toxin family, consists of eight ether rings, 18 stereocenters, and two challenging pyranyl rings having methyl groups that are in a 1,3-diaxial orientation to one another Herein we describe the generation of gambierol's A-C and F-H ring systems and demonstrate the versatility of the glycosyl anhydride, enol ether-olefin RCM strategy to fused polycyclic ethers This work has both enabled us to generate sufficient quantities of the gambierol precursors and has enabled us to better understand the chemical transformations that were key to these efforts Fundamental work included efforts to C-glycosides and C-ketosides, Claisen rearrangements, and enol ether-olefin RCM reactions

Jason M. Cox

Papers

Aluminum- and boron-mediated c-glycoside synthesis from 1,2-anhydroglycosides.

C-glycosides to fused polycyclic ethers. A formal synthesis of (+/-)-hemibrevetoxin B.

C-Glycosides to fused polycyclic ethers

Total Synthesis of Gambierol: The Generation of the A-C and F-H Subunits by Using a C-Glycoside Centered Strategy

C-glycosides to fused polycyclic ethers. An efficient entry into the A-D ring system of gambierol.