Studies toward the synthesis of pinnatoxins: the spiroimine fragment

An enantioselective approach to the spiroimine fragment of pinnatoxins is described. The strategy is based on a recently developed diastereoselective Ireland-Claisen rearrangement to establish the challenging congested quaternary and tertiary stereocenters within the cyclohexene ring. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.