Total Synthesis of Blennolide Mycotoxins: Design, Synthetic Routes and Completion

Mycotoxins of the tetrahydroxanthone class of natural products possess a large number of interesting biological properties. In this full paper, we present our synthetic strategy to some members of this class of compounds, namely the blennolides A and C. We disclose the scope and limitations of the functionalization of various xanthones derived from a domino oxa-Michael-aldol condensation and pursue dimerization of these xanthones. Furthermore, the first crystal structure of blennolide C has been obtained.