HOT: Synthesis of polysubstituted furanonaphthoquinones

09 Jan 2013

In this HOT paper, Wenwei Lin and colleagues at National Taiwan Normal University report an efficient and versatile synthesis of polysubstituted furanonaphthoquinones. The strategy developed by Lin et al. is based on the synthesis of a series of novel poly-functionalized phosphorus zwitterions via three-component reactions, which are then involved in an intramolecular Wittig reaction.

The flexibility of this synthesis is such that furanonaphthoquinones with various substituents at the 2- and 3-positions of the furan segment can be produced.