Total Synthesis of the Antifungal Natural Product Mollisin

Mollisin, a bioactive polyketide secondary metabolite of the fungus Mollisia caesia, was synthesized in nine linear steps from commercially available 2,6-dimethyl--pyrone. A key transformation in this first total synthesis of mollisin was the ipso substitution of an arylstannane, which permitted the otherwise cumbersome introduction of the characteristic dichloroacetyl moiety. The fungal fungicide was obtained in an overall yield of 9%.