Diastereoselective synthesis of highly functionalized tetrahydroxanthenols--unprecedented access to privileged structural motifs.

Tetrahydroxanthenones, which can be easily prepared by a domino oxa-Michael aldol condensation, offer various possibilities for diastereoselective functionalization, giving access to the stereocontrolled synthesis of stereochemical triades or tetrades, which represent privileged structural motifs. In most cases, the relative stereochemistry was unequivocally established by crystal structure analysis.