Formal Total Syntheses of Crocacin A-D

Abstract
A concise route to the common polyketide fragment5of crocacin A-D (1-4) is presented which has previously been converted into all members of this fungicidal and cytotoxic family of dipeptidic natural products by various means. Our synthesis features asyn-selective titanium aldol reaction controlled by a valinol-derived auxiliary, a zinc-mediated, palladium-catalyzedanti-selective addition of propargyl mesylate10to the chiral aldehyde9, as well as a comparison of palladium-catalyzed Stille and Suzuki cross-coupling reactions for the formation of the diene moiety of the target.