Construction of bridged polycycles through dearomatization strategies

Bridged polycycles are privileged molecular skeletons with wide occurrence in bioactive natural products and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, they have been the pursing target molecules of numerous chemists. The rapid and convenient generation of sp3-rich complex three-dimensional molecular skeletons from simple and easily available aromatics has made dearomatization a highly valuable synthetic tool to the construction of rigid and challenging bridged rings. This review summarizes the-state-of-the-art advances of dearomatization strategies in the application of bridged rings formation, discusses their advantages and limitations and the in-depth mechanism, and highlights their synthetic value in natural products total synthesis. We wish this review will provide an important reference for medicinal and synthetic chemists and will inspire further development in this intriguing research area.