A General Synthetic Approach to the (20S)-Camptothecin Family of Antitumor Agents by a Regiocontrolled Cascade Radical Cyclization of Aryl Isonitriles.

The power of radical reactions continues to increase! A cascade radical annulation route now allows perhaps the mildest and most general method for the synthesis of both known and new members of the camptothecin family (parent structure on the right) of antitumor agents.