Pm. Donate et al., Synthesis of substituted gamma-butyrolactones: beta-hydroxymethyl-, beta-methylene and cyclopropane derivatives, SYN COMMUN, 29(17), 1999, pp. 2923-2936
A beta-hydroxymethyl-gamma-butyrolactone, which is a useful intermediate fo
r the synthesis of several natural products with biological activity, was s
ynthesized with good yield and a reduced number of steps from simple commer
cially available starting materials. Model compounds of natural products co
ntaining the unsaturated gamma-butyrolactone unit, such as butenolides and
beta-methylene-gamma-butyrolactones, were also conveniently synthesized fro
m this hydroxymethyl-lactone.