CHED 511

Davanone, the major component of the essential oil of Artemisia pallens, possesses both spasmolytic and fungolytic activity.  Our proposed synthesis should be the shortest yet, as well as being enantioselective and offering a route to related natural products.  The key steps are a thiazolium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxide opening and a biomimetic cyclization to form a trisubstituted tetrahydrofuran ring.  Our synthetic work towards (+)-davanone, including these pivotal steps, will be presented.