Synthesis and structural revision of annuionone A

Annuionones (1–5), allelopathic agents isolated from Helianthus annus (sunflower), were reported to be ionone-type bisnorsesquiterepenes. However, the proposed structures for annuionones A (1), B (2) and E (5) were thought to be incorrect. Thus, we have tentatively proposed a revised structure (6) for annuionone A based on careful re-analyses of the reported spectral data. The synthesis of (±)-6 was accomplished to prove the structure of natural annuionone A as 6.