The Wieland-Miescher Ketone: A Journey from Organocatalysis to Natural Product Synthesis

The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction can be considered as the origin of asymmetric organocatalysis, giving rise to the Wieland-Miescher ketone 1 (WMK), a versatile building block. Although 40 years have passed since its discovery, a highly enantioselective and scalable synthesis of the WMK has remained elusive. This account details a solution to that problem that came about in the development of methodology towards C-8a WMK analogues as part of the total synthesis of complex diterpene natural products. The work has been placed in the context of the historical background and reactivity of this important building block, highlighting the challenges faced by organocatalysis in large-scale reactions.