Englerin A is a sesquiterpene isolated from stem bark of P. engleri. in east Africa. This natural product exhibits potent growth inhibitory activity against several renal cancer cell lines (GI50 1-87 nM) and is considered to be a promising lead compound for developing new anticancer drugs. Such biological activities as well as its intriguing structure attract much attention from a synthetic community and many synthetic studies including 6 total synthesis have been reported to date. In this symposium, we will report a formal synthesis of englerin A. Key features of this study include (i) Stereoselective construction of the cyclopentane ring system by cyclization of the epoxy nitrile. (ii) Stereoselective In-mediated Barbier coupling with 2-(bromomethyl)-3-methylbut-1-ene, (iii) RCM leading to the key intermediate in the total synthesis reported by Christmann
