Short syntheses of (+)-ferruginol from (+)-dehydroabietylamine

Short syntheses of bioactive (+)-ferruginol in five or six synthetic steps starting from commercially available (+)-dehydroabietylamine are described. The oxygenated function at C12 was introduced via a Friedel–Crafts acylation of N-phthaloyldehydroabietylamine followed by Baeyer–Villiger oxidation. Then, overall deprotection of functional groups, reductive deamination or biomimetic oxidative deamination, and final Wolff–Kishner reduction provided (+)-ferruginol in 21 and 23% overall yields, respectively.