Abstract
The Diels–Alder reaction has long been established as an extremely useful procedure
in the toolbox of natural product chemists. It tolerates a wide spectrum of building
blocks of different complexity and degrees of derivatization, and enables the formation
of six-membered rings with well-defined stereochemistry. In recent years, many total
syntheses of natural products have been reported that rely, at some point, on the
use of a [4+2]-cycloaddition step. Among classic approaches, several modifications
of the Diels–Alder reaction, such as hetero-Diels–Alder reactions, dehydro-Diels–Alder
reactions and domino-Diels–Alder reactions, have been employed to extend the scope
of this process in the synthesis of natural products. Our short review covers applications
of the Diels–Alder reaction in natural product syntheses between 2017 and 2020, as
well as selected methodologies which are inspired by, or that can be used to access
natural products.
1 Introduction
2 Syntheses from 2017
3 Syntheses from 2018
4 Syntheses from 2019
5 Syntheses from 2020
6 Conclusion
Key words
Diels–Alder reaction - cycloaddition - total synthesis - natural products - recent
advances - stereocontrol
