Total Synthesis of Sanglifehrin A

The immunosuppressive agent sanglifehrin A has been prepared for the first time by total synthesis. The construction of the macrocyclic unit of the target molecule was achieved through a selective intramolecular Stille coupling, and the spirolactam unit by Paterson-aldol reactions. The final steps involve an intermolecular Stille coupling and the opening of the internal acetal unit. This convergent synthesis opens the way for the synthesis of libraries of novel sanglifehrin analogues for biological screening.