Front Cover: Synergistic Gold and Copper Dual Catalysis for Intramolecular Glaser-Hay Coupling: Rapid Total Synthesis of Ivorenolide B (Eur. J. Org. Chem. 32/2018)

Abstract

The Front Cover shows an example of synergistic catalysis, an advanced synthetic strategy that involves the concurrent activation of both nucleophile and electrophile simultaneously by two separate and distinct catalysts to afford a single chemical transformation. In this case, gold and copper are used as synergistic catalysts for the synthesis of macrolactones bearing 1,3-butadiynes through an intramolecular Glaser–Hay coupling reaction in good yield. The potential, as well as the versatility, of this novel method is not only exemplified by the synthesis of macrolactones of different ring size, but also by the rapid total synthesis of ivorenolide B, a new class of macrolide endowed with a conjugated 1,3-diyne motif that has impressive immunosuppressive activities. More information can be found in the Communication by D. K. Mohapatra et al.