Enantioselective Synthesis of 8-epi-Xanthatin and Biological Evaluation of Xanthanolides and their Derivatives

Abstract

An enantioselective synthesis of 8-epi-xanthatin (9) has been accomplished starting from the bicyclic lactone 3, which has been used for the synthesis of other xanthanolides, sundiversifolide (4) and diversifolide (5), through a synthetic route without the use of a selenium species. Additionally we have evaluated antimicrobial activities of five natural xanthanolides and their derivatives. Although the synthetic xanthanolides did not show any activity against MRSA, some of the synthetic intermediates did exhibit moderate antimicrobial activities.