Four step route to carbotricycles
Elegant strategy that directly assembles 5–8–5 scaffolds from simple precursors paves way to a new library of bioactive compounds
5-8-5 ring systems are central to over 30 natural products, several of which have therapeutic activity. Despite its promising potential, drug-discovery programmes have largely ignored this particular ring system because it’s so difficult to make. A new synthetic strategy devised by scientists in the US could change all that.