Design and synthesis of polycyclic sulfones via Diels-Alder reaction and ring-rearrangement metathesis as key steps.

Here, we describe a new and simple synthetic strategy to various polycyclic sulfones via Diels-Alder reaction and ring-rearrangement metathesis (RRM) as the key steps. This approach delivers tri- and tetracyclic sulfones with six (n = 1), seven (n = 2) or eight-membered (n = 3) fused-ring systems containing trans-ring junctions unlike the conventional all cis-ring junctions generally obtained during the RRM sequence. Interestingly the starting materials used are simple and commercially available.