Qing-min Wang and colleagues at Nankai University, China, describe the first complete synthesis of a recently identified natural product with intriguing anticancer activity.
Papilistatin was isolated from a Taiwan butterfly in 2010 and was found to inhibit leukaemia cell growth. This inspired Wang to undertake the synthetic challenge of producing the compound in the lab. Constructing the phenanthrene ring system proved tricky explains Wang but after many attempts at oxidative coupling, he discovered that radical cyclisation was the key.
Read more about this synthesis in the article which is free to download until 31st March.
First total synthesis of Papilistatin
Meng Wu, Ling Li, An-Zheng Feng, Bo Su, De-min Liang, Yu-xiu Liu and Qing-min Wang
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0OB01214A,
