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A concise synthesis of pawhuskin A
Jeffrey D Neighbors1, Matthew J Buller, Kelly D Boss
1Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1294, USA.
Abstract:
Pawhuskin A is an isoprenylated stilbene that was isolated from Dalea purpurea and reported to have affinity for the opioid receptor in vitro. It has been synthesized through a convergent sequence that joins a prenylated aldehyde with a geranylated phosphonate in a stereoselective Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons condensation to afford the target E olefin isomer. This synthesis confirms the structure assigned to the natural product and establishes a route that may be used to explore its biological activity and to prepare more active analogues.
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