Concise synthesis of marine natural products smenodiol and (-)-pelorol.

A facile synthesis of marine natural product smenodiol has been achieved in 23.2% overall yield within 8 steps from readily available starting materials, which facilitates a concise synthesis of the marine natural product (-)-pelorol by employing a TMSOTf-mediated Friedel-Crafts reaction with a methyl ester in the aryl as the key step.