Molecules containing vicinal all-carbon quaternary stereocenters are found in many secondary metabolites, and they exhibit a variety of biological and pharmacological activities. However, the construction of such a structural motif remains a significant challenge in natural product synthesis. Only in recent years have considerable efforts been made to construct vicinal quaternary stereocenters in a single-step operation. In this review, we focus on the different types of methods that have been successfully used in the total synthesis of natural products. Based on the classified reactions for the simultaneous generation of vicinal all-carbon quaternary stereocenters, the total syntheses of the natural products are discussed, placing emphasis on the diastereoselective preparation of vicinal quaternary carbon centers and the subsequent total syntheses.
The development of efficient reactions for the one-pot construction of bicyclic ring systems bearing two quaternary carbon centres at their bridgehead positions represents a significant challenge to synthetic chemistry. The development of new methods capable of overcoming this challenge is highly desirable, because this motif can be found in a wide range of natural products with significant biological activities. Herein, we report an efficient [3 þ 2] cycloaddition reaction between an enal and an alleno rhodium species, which was generated in situ from the corresponding enynol via a retro metal-propargylation reaction, to give [3.3.0] and [3.4.0] bicyclic systems bearing two quaternary atoms at their bridgehead positions. The developed chemistry has been successfully applied to the asymmetric total synthesis of natural product ( À )-lingzhiol (4) for the first time in 17 steps.
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