Total syntheses of three pyrrolo[1,4]benzodiazepine anticancer
antibiotic family members oxo-prothracarcin, oxo-tomaymycin, and boseongazepine
B are described. The total syntheses feature late-stage stereoselective
olefination employing modified Julia–Kocienski reagents that
can be conveniently prepared in only two steps and allows for a significant
reduction in the number of linear steps. Detailed density functional
theory (DFT) studies explain the stereochemical outcome of the key
step.