Short and efficient approach towards macrocyclic lactones based on a Sonogashira reaction

Polyketide-derived macrolactones like zearalenone (1), zearalane (2) or curvularin (3) display a wide range of interesting pharmacological activities. Here, we present a short and efficient approach towards this class of natural products by a combination of the Sonogashira and Mitsunobu reactions. The resulting lactone 9 was tested against human cancer cell lines at the NCl.