A new family of sesterterpenoids isolated around the Pacific Rim.

Covering: 2009 up to the end of 2017 There has been a recent eruption in the number of known marine sesterterpenoids which have been isolated from Pacific Rim marine organisms. These compounds have novel and unusual structures that exhibit incredibly potent and varied bioactivities. This review details the isolation, biological testing and prospects for this exciting new family with discussion of their potential biogenetic origins.

Divergent Reactivity via Cobalt Catalysis: An Epoxide Olefination.

Cobalt salts exert an unexpected and profound influence on the reactivity of epoxides with dimethylsulfoxonium methylide. In the presence of a cobalt catalyst, conditions for epoxide to an oxetane ring expansion instead deliver homoallylic alcohol products, corresponding to a two-carbon epoxide homologation/ring-opening tandem process. The observed reactivity change appears to be specifically due to cobalt salts and is broadly applicable to a variety of epoxides, retaining the initial stereochemistry.