Synthetic ventures inspired by biosynthetic hypotheses: the evolution of a method for the oxidative amidation of phenols

We describe the development of a technique for the oxidative conversion of 4-alkyl phenols to derivatives of the corresponding 4-alkyl-4-amino-2,5-cyclohexanediones. This transformation, which was inspired by biogenetic considerations, constitutes a key step in the total syntheses of FR-901483, TAN-1251C, and cylindricine C. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.