Epoxide-Opening Cascades

Over two decades ago, Nakanishi proposed a provocative explanation for the structural and stereochemical similarities found in the ladder polyether natural products, which are associated with the Red Tide and other marine phenomena – the transformation of a polyepoxide into a ladder polyether via a cascade of epoxide-opening events. An ongoing effort in our group is the replication or emulation of such cascades with several goals in mind. One aim is the efficient synthesis of these extremely complex natural products and another is the exploration of Nakanishi’s original hypothesis, that is, whether or not Nature does use such cascades to synthesize the ladder polyethers.

For more information on our research in this area please click on the appropriate scheme.