Concise Synthesis of Natural Phenylphenalenone Phytoalexins and a Regioisomer.

Concise total syntheses of the natural phytoalexins 2-hydroxy-8-(4-hydroxyphenyl)phenalen-1-one (1), 2-hydroxy-8-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)phenalen-1-one (2), and hydroxyanigorufone (4), together with regioisomer 3 are accomplished in 11 or 12 steps. The synthetic strategy features a Friedel-Crafts acylation to construct the 1H-phenalen-1-one tricyclic core followed by a Suzuki cross-coupling to obtain the target compounds.