Synthesis of a diversifiable cis-dehydrodecalin scaffold based on meiogynin A

A highly endo selective Diels–Alder reaction provides efficient access to the substituted cis-dehydrodecalin core structure of meiogynin A. Elaboration into the fully functionalized scaffold was achieved in three steps from cycloadduct 20a. This strategy is amenable to the synthesis of diversely substituted meiogynin analogs for the discovery of novel inhibitors of Bcl-xL and related anti-apoptotic proteins.