Recent Progress on the Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Flavanones

Flavanone and its derivatives are privileged natural products that show a wide range of biological activities. The importance of these compounds has driven research developments toward the preparation of flavanones, especially enantioenriched examples. This account reviews recent approaches for the asymmetric synthesis of chiral flavanones. The synthetic methods involve reduction, intramolecular addition, and intermolecular addition. 1 Introduction 2 Asymmetric Reduction 3 C-C Bond Formation (Intermolecular Conjugate Additions to 4-Chromanones) 4 C-O Bond Formation 4.1 Intramolecular Oxa-Michael Additions 4.2 Tandem Reactions of Chromones 4.3 Intramolecular Mitsunobu Cyclization 5 Conclusion