Abstract The first stage in the development of a synthetic route for the total synthesis of laulimalide (1) is described. Our retrosynthetic analysis envisioned a novel macrocyclization route to the natural product by using a Ru-catalyzed alkene–alkyne coupling. This would be preceded by an esterification of the C19 hydroxyl group, joining together two equally sized synthons, the northern fragment 7 and the southern fragment 8. Our first generation ...
[Uenishi, Jun'ichi; Motoyama, Mitsuhiro; Nishiyama, Yoshitaka; Wakabayashi, Shoji Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications, 1991 , # 20 p. 1421 - 1422]