4-[(4 '-methylphenyl)sulfonyl]-1-(triphenylphosphoranylidene)-2-butanone as a new four-carbon synthon for substituted divinyl ketones

The title compound and the corresponding anion have been conveniently used as precursors of substituted divinylketones in both carbo- and heterocycliz ation reactions in one-pot, three-step sequences leading to a wide variety of substituted carbo- and heterocyclic ring systems, as well as to multifun ctionalized Linear carbon frameworks. The compounds generated through the u se of this multi-coupling represent useful synthons for the construction of natural compounds including (+/-)-epibatidine, (-)-anabasine and (+/-)-pyr enophorin.