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Chemists report a concise synthesis of pleurotin by way of the Diels-Alder reaction and a radical epimerization. Their late-stage intermediate intersects a milestone 1988 synthesis, reducing the total number of steps needed. The new method could yield an expanded family of pleurotin-like anticancer screening candidates which, down the line, may be useful to pharmaceutical companies looking to exploit the promise of pleurotin as a next-generation drug.