A concise and enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-aigialospirol is described here, featuring the first complex natural product synthesis that employs a cyclic ketal-tethered ring-closing metathesis strategy and an unexpected stereoselective epimerization of a benzylic hydroxyl group. The 15-step synthetic sequence illustrates the proof-of-concept that such an approach can be competitive with the classical spiroketal formation in the natural product synthesis.
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