From carbohydrate-derived ketene dithioacetals to 1--thioglycals: a synthetic and theoretical insight.

A strategy for the synthesis of 1--substituted thioglycals was developed from cyclic carbohydrate-derived ketene dithioacetals in a four-step sequence. The corresponding thioglycals, in two carbohydrate series, were first obtained by removal of the exocyclic glycosyl sulfoxide, followed by treatment with an organolithium reagent. Various electrophilic groups were introduced onto the thioglycal double bond after deprotonation and formation of a glycosyl lithium intermediate.

Meroterpenoids? A historical and critical review of this biogenetic determinant.

In its original definition, meroterpenoids refer to substances of mixed biosynthesis including a terpenoid part. The number of compounds fulfilling this criterion is huge, and almost from the beginning, exclusions were made, more or less, explicitly stated. The concept is well accepted in the microorganism domain, where biosynthetic studies are advanced, while in the plant domain, meroterpenes and meroterpenoids randomly appear.