A unified strategy for the regiospecific assembly of homoallyl-substituted butenolides and γ-hydroxybutenolides:: First synthesis of luffariellolide

The first synthesis of the antiinflarmnatory marine natural product luffariellolide has been achieved by a convergent pathway involving sp(3)-sp(3) cross-coupling and silyloxyfuran oxyfunctionalisation as key steps. An illustration of the inherent flexibility of this strategy is provided by a simple synthesis of alpha,beta-acariolide and its gamma-hydroxylated derivative from a common silyloxyfuran precursor.