Enantioselective Total Synthesis of (−)-Incarviatone A

We
report herein the first total synthesis of (−)-incarviatone
A (1) in 14 steps starting from commercially available
inexpensive phenylacetic acid (9). Our early stage synthesis
relies on the scalable and sequential C–H functionalization
to rapidly assemble the indanyl dialdehyde framework. Further biomimetic
cascade strategy allows us to obtain the natural product in a one-pot
operation. We also conduct detailed mechanistic studies and disclose
all the possible intermediates and isomers formed during the biomimetic
cascade process.