Ruthenium-catalyzed insertion of adjacent diol carbon atoms into C-C bonds: Entry to type II polyketides

Abstract

Current catalytic processes involving carbon-carbon bond activation rely on p-unsaturated coupling partners. Exploiting the concept of transfer hydrogenative coupling, we report a ruthenium(0)-catalyzed cycloaddition of benzocyclobutenones that functionalizes two adjacent saturated diol carbon-hydrogen bonds.These regio- and diastereoselective processes enable convergent construction of type II polyketide substructures.