Quinic acid as a chiron in total synthesis

Abstract

Covering: 1980 up to 2025.

Quinic acid became a versatile, accessible chiral building block for asymmetric synthesis, offering a functionalized, stereochemically rich scaffold that enables the creation of many natural products and bioactive compounds. This review covers synthetic strategies from the 1980s to 2025, highlighting quinic acid's ongoing importance in organic synthesis. It discusses its role in synthesizing carbocyclic frameworks, vitamin D analogues, carbasugars, cyclitols, aminocyclitols, lactones, alkaloids, and macrocyclic fragments. The review summarizes four decades of progress and emerging trends that reinforce quinic acid's status as a key chiral building block for complex molecule synthesis.