New route to herbertanes via a Suzuki cross-coupling reaction: synthesis of herbertenediol

The synthesis of herbertenediol, a relevant member of the herbertane-type sesquiterpene family, is described. The synthesis is based on a new general approach to this group of sesquiterpenes where the herbertane skeleton is constructed using a Suzuki cross-coupling reaction and a [2,3]-sigmatropic Still–Wittig rearrangement as key synthetic steps.