Toward the Total Synthesis of Ryanodol via Oxidative Alkyne–1,3-Diketone Annulation: Construction of a Ryanoid Tetracycle

[Image: see text] A synthetic strategy conceived with the intent of establishing a novel approach to the de novo construction of ryanoids is described that is based on a recently developed metallacycle-mediated intramolecular oxidative alkyne–1,3-diketone coupling reaction. In short, a one-pot annulation/oxidation sequence is shown to be capable of establishing a densely oxygenated polycyclic intermediate that could be converted to a composition of matter that contains the ABCD tetracyclic ring system present in the ryanoid family of natural products.