Asymmetric synthesis of the new marine epoxy lipid, (6S,7S,9S,10S)-6,9-epoxynonadec-18-ene-7,10-diol

An efficient and stereocontrolled process is described for the preparation of (6S, 7S, 9S, 10S)-6,9-epoxynonadee-18-ene-7.10-diol, a marine epoxy lipid isolated from the brown alga, Notheia anomala. The key 2,3,5-trisubstituted tetrahydrofuran ring was constructed by stereoselective hydrogenation of the hemiketal derivative elaborated through nucleophilic addition of Grignard reagent in the presence of CeCl3 to the highly functionalized lactone derived from L-galactono-1,4-lactone,4-lactone. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.