Total synthesis of the 2-arylbenzo[b]furan-containing natural products from Artocarpus

In this study, 2-arylbenzo[b]furan-containing derivatives moracin C (1) and moracin M (4), the natural products from Artocarpus, have been synthesized in highest overall yield to date (1, 7 steps with an overall yield of 41.9%; 4, 6 steps with an overall yield of 56.3%), and we also report the first total synthesis of artoindonesianin B-1 (2), another member of this family, in the same route (8 steps with an overall yield of 11.3%). This discovery provides a concise route for preparing enough amounts of 1, 2, and 4 as well as 2-arylbenzo[b]furan-containing natural product-like analogs (71-74) to explore the biological potential. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.