Molecular rearrangements during terpene syntheses

Abstract Minireview Molecular Rearrangements During Terpene Syntheses † Ajoy K. Banerjee, a, * William J. Vera, a Henry Mora, a Manuel Laya, a Liadis Bedoya, a Carlos Melean, a PO. S. Poon NG, a and Elvia V. Cabrera b a IVIC, Centro de Quimica, Apartado 21827, Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela. E-mail: abanerje@ivic.ve b Universidad del Zulia, Departamento de Quimica, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Maracaibo, VenezuelaReceived 12-08-2005 † To Mr. Victor Marcos Simon, a beloved gardner of 90 years old. Rearrangements of several organic compounds with acids, iodine, boron trifluoride etherate, thionyl chloride-pyridine, manganese(III) acetate and silicon dioxide have been discussed. These rearrangements were observed during our studies on the synthesis of natural products related to diterpenes and triterpenes. The mechanism of these molecular rearrangements has been suggested in order to explain the formation of the obtained structures.Key words: rearrangement, terpenes, natural products Introduction