Flavaglines are a family of natural products that are found in plants of the genus ''

Aglaia ''Aglaia'' is a genus of 117 species of woody dioecious trees belonging to the Mahogany family (Meliaceae). These trees occur in the subtropical and tropical forests of Southeast Asia, Northern Australia and the Pacific. Some species are impo ...

'' ( Meliaceae). These compounds are characterized by a cyclopenta 'b'' enzofuran skeleton. In 1982 King and colleagues discovered the first member of this family,

rocaglamide Rocaglamide is a natural product which belongs to a class of molecules called flavaglines. This compound was isolated in 1982 by King, Ming-Lu (金明儒) and colleagues based on its antileukemic activity. The name of Rocaglamide is named from two ...

, based on its antileukemic activity. Since then, about 50 other flavaglines have been characterized. These molecules display strong insecticidal, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, cardioprotective and

anticancer An anticarcinogen (also known as a carcinopreventive agent) is a substance that counteracts the effects of a carcinogen or inhibits the development of cancer. Anticarcinogens are different from anticarcinoma agents (also known as anticancer or ant ...

activities. In mouse models of cancer, flavaglines enhance the efficacy of chemotherapies and also alleviate the cardiac adverse effect of these chemotherapies. The challenge raised by their structural complexity has attracted the attention of some organic chemists. In 1990,

Barry Trost Barry M. Trost (born June 13, 1941, in Philadelphia) is an American chemist who is the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Professor Emeritus in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. The Tsuji-Trost reaction and the Trost ligand are ...

presented an

enantioselective In chemistry, an enantiomer ( /ɪˈnænti.əmər, ɛ-, -oʊ-/ ''ih-NAN-tee-ə-mər''; from Ancient Greek ἐνάντιος ''(enántios)'' 'opposite', and μέρος ''(méros)'' 'part') – also called optical isomer, antipode, or optical anti ...

synthesis of rocaglamide in 18 steps and confirmed its absolute configuration.

References

{{Reflist Aglaia Benzofurans Resorcinol ethers

See also

References