A novel cyclisation strategy for the synthesis of lactonamycin: A new route to highly functionalised heterocyclic rings

A novel thermal cascade reaction equivalent to the well-known [2+2+2] cycloaddition has been developed which is clean and reliable and does not involve the use of metal ions. This highly efficient method has been used to construct a model for the synthesis of the antibiotic lactonamycin. The utility of this new sequence for the formation of furans is also reported.