Toward the synthesis of the antibiotic tetrodecamycin

We report here a short approach to a tricyclic substructure of tetrodecamycin exhibiting a unique ring skeleton utilising an acid catalysed ring closure as the key step. In addition an efficient three-step synthesis of 5-alkylidene 4-methoxy-2(5H)-furanones starting from 4-methoxy-2(5H)-furanone is described.