Aryne-based strategy in the total synthesis of naturally occurring polycyclic compounds

The total syntheses of polycyclic natural products by exploiting an aryne as the key reactive species are reviewed. A short introduction summarizes the basic reactivities of aryne species as well as the methods for its generation. In the main part, early examples and the recent reports (mainly 2012-present) on the use of arynes in multistep syntheses are described.