A new era for organic synthesis—highlights of the recent progress

Abstract

The major progress in organic synthesis since 2005 is briefly surveyed in two parts. The first part deals with some of the most impressive advances in the synthetic methodology, which includes: (1) metal-mediated synthetic reactions, with an emphasis on the olefin metathesis and gold-mediated reactions; (2) free radical-based organic synthesis; (3) synthetic transformations performed in a one-pot  manner involving either tandem reactions or multicomponent reactions; (4) asymmetric reactions catalyzed by metal and organo-catalysts. The major advances in total synthesis of some complex natural products with significant biological activities are presented in the second part, with detailed illustrations of ten selected molecules, including dragmacidin F, abyssomicin C, 11-acetoxy-4-deoxyasbestinin D, pentacycloanammoxic acid, UCS1025A, (−)-merrilactone A, nigellamine A₂, (+)-saxitoxin, and Tamiflu (an artificially designed natural product-like molecule). An array of complicated structures of the natural products synthesized over the last two years is also listed to serve as a convenient lead to the original literature for the prospective interested readers.

Keywords

organic synthesis, metal-mediated synthetic reaction, free radical reaction, “in one pot” reaction, asymmetric reaction, total synthesis of natural products