A biogenetically-inspired synthesis of a ring-D model of kinamycin F: insights into the conformation of ring D.

An efficient three-step construction of the highly oxygenated D-ring of the kinamycin antibiotics is reported for a simple model system. A comparison of the spectroscopic characteristics of the synthetic models with those of natural kinamycin F, which is suspected to be the bioactive form of the kinamycins, leads to the conclusion that the favored D-ring conformation of kinamycin F differs from that of the other partially or fully acylated variants.