Takehiko Yoshimitsu, Maki Tsunoda and Hiroto Nagaoka
The tetrahydrofuranyl radical, generated from THF with Et3B in the presence of air, was found to react with aldehydes threo-selectively to afford α-substituted tetrahydrofuran-2-methanols, the common structural motifs of biologically active acetogenin polyketides, in moderate yields.