Has a nice ring to it: A concise and modular totalsynthesis of the naturally occurring antibiotic virginiamycin M2 is described. A Barbier‐type cyclization was used to close the 23‐membered macrocycle and deliver virginiamycin M2 in 19 steps from a chiral organosilane.
An intramolecular Takai reaction of the iodoaldehyde 4a proceeded with a moderate efficiency to give the macrocyclic hydroxy compound Ib, identified to an authentic sample. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.