Natural macrocyclic bis(bibenzyls) exhibiting configurationally stable axially chiral biaryls are of high interest from a structural as well as from a synthetic point of view. An enantiopure sulfinyl auxiliary controlling an atropo-diastereoselective biaryl Suzuki coupling reaction has been investigated and promising results for the preparation of the biaryl moiety of cyclicbis(bibenzyls) like isoplagiochins
The Heck protocol was applied for the first time to the atroposelective synthesis of macrocyclic natural products. As ring closure to bis(bibenzyls) of the isoplagiochin type leads to a configurationally stable biaryl axis in the molecule, cyclization could be conducted atroposelectively in the presence of a chiral BINAP ligand.