A Walk Across Africa with Captain Grant

Total Syntheses of Mycolactone A/B and its Analogues for the Exploration of the Biology of Buruli Ulcer

“…The synthetic strategy outlined in Scheme 5 is modular and was exploited for the preparation of a library of southern fragments differing by the number and absolute configurations of the C(12'), C(13') and C(15') stereogenic centers as well as by the nature of the C(2')-C(11') polyenic system (data not shown). [10][11][12][13][14][15]…”

“…Data from the Kishi, [17,28] Altmann [19] and Blanchard's [10][11][12][13][14][15] groups point to the importance of the C(1')-C(16') sector of mycolactone A/B for its biological activities. [1,2] Considering the pharmacological importance of this fragment, it was required to develop a robust and flexible synthetic strategy that could lead to designed analogues with minimal revision of the blueprint.…”

“…Herein, we highlight the key achievements of the different synthetic strategies for the total synthesis of mycolactone A/B and its analogues. An in-depth discussion of the chemistry and biology goes beyond the scope of this article, and can be found in research articles [10][11][12][13][14][15] and reviews. [1,2]…”