Total synthesis of natural products containing benzofuran rings

Abstract

Research on natural products containing benzofuran has remarkably increased during the past few decades.Newly isolated natural products with complex structures are being studied, characterized and screened for possible biological activities. Several of such compounds have exhibited various biological activities, thus their total syntheses have attracted much attention from synthetic organic chemists. In this review, we aim to highlight the origins, structures, biological potencies, and synthetic approaches of those natural products bearing at least one benzofuran in their complex structures. Furthermore, we especially focus on the step in which this key heterocycle is installed during the total synthesis of a natural product as the desired target.

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of (−)-Ribisins A and B from Dibenzo[b,d]furan

“…This alternative approach of using a polycyclic cis-dihydrodiol precursor can now be added to the available 5 methods for the synthesis of chiral natural products containing benzofuran rings. 31…”

Conversion of β‐Nitrostyrenes to Naphthofurans via a Cascade Reaction with α‐ and β‐Naphthols

“…Among the various arenofurans, enormous synthetic methods have been studied about benzofurans. However, there have been less researches for naphthofurans compare to benzofurans [10–14] …”

One-pot synthesis and property study on thieno[3,2-b]furan compounds

“…2 Therefore, more and more attention has been paid to the design and synthesis of this type of compounds. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Over the years, some synthetic methods including transition metal catalyzed intramolecular C-O coupling [16][17][18] and bis-C/Hactivated ring closure of diaryl ethers 19,20 as well as ring closure of ortho-hydroxyarylalkynes [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] have been reported for the synthesis of furan-fused ring compounds. These methods are usually high-yielding and applicable to a variety of substrates.…”