Electrochemically Enabled Total Syntheses of Natural Products

Abstract

Graphical Abstract available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202300140 Electrochemical synthesis is a powerfully enabling technique for the formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds and has driven new developments in the total synthesis of complex bioactive natural products for 175 years. This review explores the unusual disconnections and operationally simple approaches to a diverse array of natural products.

Abstract Electrochemical techniques have helped to enable the total synthesis of natural products since the pioneering work of Kolbe in the mid 1800’s. The electrochemical toolset grows every day and these new possibilities change the way chemists look at and think about natural products. This review provides a perspective on total syntheses wherein electrochemical techniques enabled the carbon-carbon bond formations in the skeletal assembly of important natural products, discussion of mechanistic details, and representative examples of the bond formations enabled over the last several decades. These bond formations are often distinctly different from those possible with conventional chemistries and allow assemblies complementary to other techniques.