Studies on the synthesis of the decahydro-as-indacene ring system of (-)-spinosyn A via transannular Diels-Alder reactions of substituted (E,E,E)-cyclododeca-1,6,8-trienes

Stereoselective syntheses of decahydro-as-indacenes 31 and 54 are reported. The key features of our syntheses of 31 and 54 are the tandem Ireland-Claisen ring contraction of lactones 29 and 38 followed by the transannular Diels-Alder cyclization of cyclododecatrienes 30 and 35. Transition state modeling of both the transannular Diels-Alder reaction and the Ireland-Claisen ring contraction using PCModel is also described.