Synthesis of proposed oxidation-cyclization-methylation intermediates of the coumarin antibiotic biosynthetic pathway
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Updated: Sep 20, 2026

Synthesis of Antiviral Tetrahydrocarbazole Derivatives by Photochemical and Acid-catalyzed C-H Functionalization via Intermediate Peroxides (CHIPS)
Published on: June 20, 2014
Junhua Tao1, Shanghui Hu, Michelle Pacholec
1Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Abstract:
[structure: see text] A chemoenzymatic synthesis was described to prepare proposed oxidation-cyclization-methylation intermediates of the coumarin antibiotic biosynthetic pathway. The successful synthesis of these fragile molecules relies heavily on mild enzymatic deprotection and efficient enzymatic kinetic resolution to minimize epimerization, decomposition, multiple orthogonal protections, and retro aldol reactions often encountered in their chemical synthesis.
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