Lili Shi, Zhen Yang*
Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2016, 2356–2368
The Pauson–Khand reaction (PKR) is used to construct a cyclopentenone framework from an alkene, an alkyne, and carbon monoxide, through a domino sequence of bond constructions. This microreview covers the synthetic application of the PKR in the total synthesis of a collection of structurally challenging natural products in the authors’ laboratory over the past 10 years, beautifully exploring the complexity-generating features of the PKR. Key to the success of these total syntheses is the implementation of the PKR to access complex target molecules containing numerous stereocenters.
