The biaryl core structure of rhazinilam with its fixed dihedral angle is a pivotal element for its unique in vitro cytotoxic activity. Most of the related natural products are oxidized versions of rhazinilam. Replacing the sensitive pyrrole ring by a pyrrolinone ring is the basis of our initial strategy towards rhazinilamanalogues. With this goal, variants of the sequence crossed Mukaiyama aldol reaction
Used in combination with the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylicalcohols, this rearrangement represents a new approach to the synthesis of various opticallyactive β-hydroxy aldehydes, useful intermediates in natural product synthesis. The modified organoaluminum reagent, MABR is also applicable to the transformation of a variety of simple epoxides to carbonyl compounds with high efficiency