Tetrahydropyran units having multiple stereogenic centers serve as excellent building
blocks for various active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). In particular, the presence
of the unique molecular architecture of the trisubstituted tetrahydropyran (THP) unit
in diospongins enhances their biological activity due to multiple stereogenic centers
and has attracted attention from the synthetic community over the last two decades.
In this review, we discuss synthetic approaches to chiral and racemic forms of diospongins
during the period 2006–2020 in chronological order.
Key words
diospongins - diarylheptanoids - tetrahydropyran - cross-metathesis - hetero-Diels–Alder
reaction - asymmetric allylation - enzyme resolution - oxa-Michael addition - Prins
cyclization
