Earlier this morning, Professor Larry Overman gave a talk in a session honoring Professor Richard Heck’s contributions to organopalladium chemistry.

Overman talked about intramolecular Heck reactions, and he highlighted the stereocontrolled total synthesis of (, the enantioselective total synthesis of ()-minfiensine, and discussed an unpublished synthesis of guanacastepene N.

If you’re looking for some of his work that’s “hot off the press,” there are two recent papers in Organic Letters from Overman & Watson: “”http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/joceah/2006/71/i07/abs/jo052335a.html">Diastereoselection in the Formation of Spirocyclic Oxindoles by the Intramolecular Heck Reaction" and “”http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/joceah/2006/71/i07/abs/jo0523363.html">Diastereoselection in the Formation of Contiguous Quaternary Carbon Stereocenters by the Intramolecular Heck Reaction."

The session was packed, and Overman certainly convinced me that intramolecular Heck reactions are a powerful way to make contiguous quaternary carbon stereocenters, even “”http://oasys2.confex.com/acs/231nm/techprogram/P942285.HTM">in situations of considerable steric congestion." If you were there, what did you think?

Joshua

Joshua Finkelstein (Associate Editor, Nature)