Mollisin, a bioactive polyketide secondary metabolite of the fungus Mollisia caesia, was synthesized in nine linear steps from commercially available 2,6‐dimethyl‐γ‐pyrone. A key transformation in this first total synthesis of mollisin was the ipso substitution of an arylstannane, which permitted the otherwise cumbersome introduction of the characteristic dichloroacetyl moiety. The fungal fungicide was obtained in an overall yield of 9 %.
An unprecedented rearrangement was encountered during an attempted alkylation of an electron-rich naphthalene with chloral hydrate. The reaction produced a dichlorinated acenaphthylene and presumably involves the intermediate formation of a chloronium ion which is opened to produce the five-membered ring of the final product.
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