The first enantioselective total synthesis of natural dicerandrol C (1 c) as its enantiomer containing a dimeric tetrahydroxanthenone skeleton is described starting from the enantiopure chromane 6 which was obtained through a Wacker-type cyclization with >99 % ee. For the formation of the dimeric skeleton a palladium-catalyzed Suzuki reaction was used. The synthesis allowed the confirmation of the absolute configuration of the dicerandrols.

A mild and highly efficient one-pot method has been developed for the stereoselective synthesis of structurally diverse novel iminosugar C-aryl glycosides. The generality of this methodology is demonstrated with a wide variety of aryl nucleophiles and amines. The synthetic potential of this methodology is further shown in the domino synthesis of iminosugar based hybrid molecules.

This work reports on the enantioselective total synthesis of the two dimeric natural chromanone lactones phomopsis-H76 A (5) and blennolide H (6). Both syntheses could be achieved from chromane 11, which was obtained by an enantioselective Wacker-type cyclization with >99 % ee. The dimerization of the corresponding monomers was performed using a palladium-catalyzed Suzuki reaction. Moreover, within this work it was possible to revise the absolute configuration of phomopsis-H76 A and determine the relative as well as absolute configuration of blennolide H.

Direct oxidation of the 4,6-O-benzylidene acetal protecting group to C-6 carboxylic acid has been developed that provides an easy access to a wide range of biologically important and synthetically challenging uronic acid and sugar amino acid derivatives in good yields. The RuCl3 -NaIO4 -mediated oxidative cleavage method eliminates protection and deprotection steps and the reaction takes place under mild conditions. The dual role of the benzylidene acetal, as a protecting group and source of carboxylic acid, was exploited in the efficient synthesis of six-carbon sialic acid analogues and disaccharides bearing uronic acids, including glycosaminoglycan analogues.

Allyl and benzyl ethers of alcohols can be prepared conveniently and in high yield with allyl and benzyl bromide in the presence of solid potassium hydroxide without use of any solvent. Phenols can be converted to allyl ethers but are inert to benzylation under above conditions.

A one pot borylation/Suzuki-Miyaura reaction of the 4-bromochromanone lactones 21 and 23, respectively, followed by cleavage of the methyl ether moieties gave the homodimeric chromanone lactones 10 and 11. Reaction of a 1:1 mixture of 21 and 23 under otherwise identical conditions gave a 1:1:2-mixture of the two homodimers 10 and 11 and the heterodimer 12. This is the first example of the preparation of a heterodimeric chromanone lactone. For the enantioselective synthesis of the starting material, phenol 17 was transformed into the chromane 18 using a Wacker-type cyclisation with 99 % ee and 80 % yield.

A mild and efficient one-pot method has been developed for the stereoselective synthesis of structurally diverse novel iminosugar C-alkynylglycosides. The generality of this methodology has been demonstrated with a wide variety of amines and copper acetylides. This one-pot method has been exploited in the synthesis of new class of DNA cross-linking agents, polyhydroxy 1-vinyl-tetrahydroindolizine derivatives.

An efficient one-pot method for the stereoselective synthesis of novel iminosugar C-nitromethyl glycosides is described. This new class of iminosugar glycosides has versatile nitromethyl functionality whose utility was further demonstrated in the single-step synthesis of bicyclic iminosugars. Under reagent-free conditions, the N-allyl-C-nitromethyl glycosides resulted in intramolecular cyclization to iminosugar-oximes, whereas under SET oxidation, they furnished cyclopropane-fused iminosugars. The N-propargyl-C-nitromethyl glycosides underwent an unprecedented ketenimine-acrylamidine-Michael addition cascade reaction to give bicyclic amidines.