Synthetic studies on (−)-scabronine A

This Letter describes synthetic studies on (−)-scabronine A utilizing a new chiral building block successfully prepared via the catalytic asymmetric intramolecular cyclopropanation (IMCP) of an α-diazo-β-keto sulfone. The crucial transformations in this study are the coupling reaction of two fragments between the positions adjacent to a quaternary carbon center, the intramolecular aldol reaction, the C14 hydroxyl-directed hydrogenation, and the ring-expansion reaction to furnish the 5-6-7 tricyclic cyathane skeleton.