Synthesis of gem-difluoromethylenated analogues of anamarine

Practical synthesis of two gem-difluoromethylenated analogues of anamarine was described. The important synthetic steps included the preparation of the key intermediates 20–21 through the indium-mediated gem-difluoropropargylation of aldehyde 18 with the fluorine-containing building block 19 and efficient construction of α,β-unsaturated-δ-lactone scaffold via BAIB/TEMPO procedure.