Total Synthesis of (+)-Gregatin B and E

The first total synthesis of (+)-gregatin E and a new total synthesis of (+)-gregatin B are described. Key features of our synthetic approach involve a palladium-catalyzed cyclization-methoxycarbonylation of optically active propargylic acetate and a Suzuki-Miyaura coupling or CuTC-mediated coupling reaction. The absolute configuration of (+)-gregatin E (5R,5'S) is proposed.