A concise and expeditious approach for the total synthesis of bioactive styryllactone (–)-crassalactone C is presented from tartaric acid. The main features of the synthesis include the desymmetrization of dimethylamide of tartaric acid and the effective use of cinnamoyl ester as a protecting group as well as a reactant in the ring-closing metathesis reaction.
Key words
crassalactone C - natural products - stereoselective synthesis - styryllactone