The catalysis of the [2 + 2] cycloreversion of the anti-o,o'-benzene dimer 1 and the syn-o,o'-naphthalene-benzene dimer 2 through thermal and photoinduced electron transfer is studied using experimental and computational methods. The reaction of the radical cations formed by electron transfer is at least 10(5) times faster than the thermal background reaction. It is demonstrated that the photoinduced electron transfer catalyzed reaction proceeds via an electron transfer sensitized pathway and that the observed inverse secondary deuterium isotope effect of 0.91 +/- 0.02 on the reaction is due to the equilibrium isotope effect on the electron transfer step. The relevance of these findings on the mechanism of the electron transfer catalyzed [2 + 2] cycloreversion of the biologically important cis,syn-cyclobutane-thymine dimer is also discussed.

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The crystal structure of enanti­opure (3aS,4S,5R,7aR)-2,2,7-trimethyl-3a,4,5,7a- tetra­hydro-1,3-benzodioxole-4,5-diol shows that the absolute configuration determined from the synthesis pathway agrees with that determined by X-ray analysis.

Natural products play an important role as a source not only of potential therapeutic drugs but also of starting materials for semisynthetic new medicines. The epoxyquinoid family, composed by cyclohexane epoxides and related structures, exhibit these characteristics without doubt.Since 2004, significant efforts have been devoted to the stereocontrolled synthesis of these molecules with different and interesting strategies. More than 50 works on this field have been published during this period of time. In addition, many of these polyoxygenated cyclohexenoids exhibit diverse and impressive bioactive shapes. This review aims to analyze the recent advances in the enantioselective processes that have been performed for the total syntheses of these target molecules. It includes a wide range of methodologies for the introduction of chirality either enzymatic or chemical ones. This summarizes microbial preparation of starting materials, lipase kinetic resolutions, use of compounds from the chiral pool, use of chiral auxiliaries and asymmetric catalysis. In a special section, syntheses of scyphostatin are also included.