Attractive reactivity of a natural product, zerumbone.

Zerumbone is a cyclic seaquiterpene and, a potential resource for natural materials-related diversity-oriented synthesis (NMRDOS). Zerumbone, the main component of the essential oil of a wild ginger, Zingiber zerumbet Smith, showed strong reactivity with good chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivity. To build the foundations for the industrial use of zerumbone, we examined conjugate addition, transannular reactions, ring cleavage, ring expansion, and asymmetric induction. The biological activity of zerumbone derivatives was also studied.