Determination of the absolute stereochemistry of (-)-galbonolide A

The absolute stereochemistry of (-)-galbonolide A (1) was assigned by chemical methods. First, 1 was degraded to diol 3. After selective silylation of the primary alcohol, two independent methods were carried out to determine the chirality at C13. Both established its S-configuration. Using the methodology developed in the total synthesis of(-)-galbonolide B, diols 13(S,S) and 13(S,R) were prepared. Their (R)-MTPA esters, 14(S,S,R) and 14(S,R,R), were compared with the analogous (R)-MTPA ester of the degradation product 3, which subsequently established the S-chirality at C8. To determine the chirality at C4, two independent methods were carried out. One involved a comparison with the chirality of C4 of galbonolide B. The other involved a comparison of the degradation product of galbonolide A, 22, with its synthetic equivalents. Both methods confirmed the S-configuration at C4. Since three of the four chiral centers of galbonolides A and B have been confirmed to be identical and since the two galbonolides share very similar conformations as suggested by their H-1 NMR spectra, the configurations at C2 of these two compounds should also be the same.