Facile and Efficient Synthesis of Lactols by a Domino Reaction of 2,3-Epoxy Alcohols with a Hypervalent Iodine(III) Reagent and Its Application to the Synthesis of Lactones and the Asymmetric Synthesis of (+)-Tanikolide.

The domino reaction of 2,3-epoxy-1-alcohol derivatives, namely tetrasubstituted 2,3-epoxy-1-alcohols and 2- or 3-alkyl trisubstituted 2,3-epoxy-1-alcohols, with PhI(OCOCF(3))(2) in the presence of H(2)O is described in detail. In this reaction, several types of lactol derivatives can be directly obtained from the 2,3-epoxy-1-alcohol derivatives in a single operation. The obtained lactols were successively converted into the corresponding lactones. This reaction is applicable to the construction of optically active lactone compounds. The asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-tanikolide, an antifungal marine natural product, has been effectively achieved by using this reaction.