Synthesis of (+)-Greek Tobacco Lactone via a Diastereoablative Epoxidation and a Selenium-Catalyzed Oxidative Cyclization

An asymmetric synthesis of the C11-homoterpenoid (+)-Greek tobacco lactone is developed starting from readily available (R)-linalool. The synthesis is comprised of four operations and features a diastereoablative epoxidation and an oxidative tetrahydropyran formation using vanadium-, palladium-, and selenium-catalyzed cyclizations.