Synthetic Studies on the Marine-Derived Sesquiterpene (+)-Viridianol: Divergent Behaviour of Two Structurally Related, Ring-Fused Cyclopropanes Under the Same Hydrogenolytic Conditions

Abstract

Hydrogenolytic cleavage of the ring-fused cyclopropane 11 using hydrogen in the presence of platinum oxide afforded the gem-dimethylated cyclohexane 12 in 99 % yield. In contrast, analogous treatment of congener 13 afforded only trace amounts of the targeted and gem-dimethylated sesquiterpene (+)-viridianol (1), the major products of reaction now being the vic-dimethylated compound 14 and the 2-fold ring-cleavage product 15. ; The authors thank the Australian Research Council and the Institute of Advanced Studies for financial support. FT and PL are the grateful recipients of funding provided by the CSC of the Government of the People's Republic of China.