A retrosynthetic analysis (Scheme 1) of maduropeptin chromophore artifact 1 defined compounds 2 and 3 as required building blocks. The construction of 2 was achieved starting from the 2, 5-dimethyl derived aromatic acid 8 and the d-serine derived δ-lactone 12 (Scheme 2), whereas the synthesis of 3 utilized an Evans's aldol condensation reaction between aldehyde 13 and chiral auxiliary 14 (Scheme 3).
[Knight, Paul D.; Clarkson, Guy; Hammond, Max L.; Kimberley, Brian S.; Scott, Peter Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 2005 , vol. 690, # 23 p. 5125 - 5144]