A four step synthesis of violaceic acid

Abstract

The total synthesis of the biaryl ether natural product violaceic acid (1) in four steps is described. The steps included a SNAr reaction between phenol 7 and flouroarene 12 to afford the biaryl ether 13, selective reduction of a nitro group to an amine in the presence of an aldehyde, a Cu mediated Sandmeyer reaction and final hydrolysis to afford the target compound 1. The amine 14 was also converted into the known iodide 18 which gave impure 1 on Pd mediated hydroxide cross coupling.