Investigation of glycerol incorporation into soraphen A
Abstract
Glycerol has been incorporated mid-chain into the polyketide soraphen A 1 at C-3,4 and C-11,12; the pro-(S)-hydroxymethyl group of glycerol is lost and one of the hydrogens in the pro-(R)-hydroxymethyl group is retained at C-11 which excludes hydroxymalonate as the immediate precursor to the vicinal methoxy groups at C-11,12.