Photochemistry and cascade reactions : access to propellanes and natural products

The remarkable increase in the number of new drug targets can be directly translated into a demand for new methods to rapidly construct highly pure small molecules that possess an ever-increasing level of structural complexity. These processes are also required to be more efficient, environmentally cleaner, and lead to greater structural diversity in a short time. Such needs have driven the development of novel strategies, which have helped to produce compounds at a greater rate than previously thought possible. Photochemistry as well as cascade reactions are part of these strategies in which they are highly desired for their efficiency in building a number of bonds and rings and increasing the molecular complexity in the ensuing products. This PhD thesis aims to provide applications of photochemistry and cascade reactions for the synthesis of intricate structures, such as propellanes and certain natural products. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the design and synthesis of α-(hydroxymethyl)cycloalkanols and Chapter 2 provides the use of photo-hydroxymethylation for the synthesis of propellane building blocks. Chapters 3-5 relate to the synthesis of diverse propellane ring-systems with aesthetically appealing structural architecture. Whereas, the last chapter briefly gives our attempts toward the total synthesis of cordycol, idesolide monomer and analogue