The Diels-Alder reaction and its variants (inverse-electron demand and hetero) offer many synthetic advantages in terms of simplicity and versatility, as exemplified by their broad application to the stereo-and regiochemically defined synthesis of a wide variety of natural products.'In particular, the use of Lewis acid catalysis in these cycloadditions allows rigorous creation of four contiguous stereocenters with largely predictable regio-and ...
