C-glycosides to fused polycyclic ethers. A formal synthesis of (+/-)-hemibrevetoxin B.

This paper describes a formal total synthesis of the marine ladder toxin hemibrevetoxin B from Danishefsky's dienes. This approach couples the generation of C-glycosides from cyclic enol ethers with metathesis or acid-mediated annulation reactions. The result is a highly efficient synthesis of the tetracyclic ring system of hemibrevetoxin B.