Recent progress in the synthesis of zaragozic acids and analogs

Zaragozic acids (or squalestatins) are very potent inhibitors of squalene synthase. They or simpler analogs have potential as drugs for lowering the endogenous level of cholesterol in human serum. These compounds are Ras farnesyltransferase inhibitors and might become antitumor drugs. They are also antifungal agents. This account presents synthetic studies subsequent to those reviewed by Nadin and Nicolaou [1]. A wealth of new chemistry has been developed for the generation of highly oxygenated 2,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane-3,4,5-tricarboxylic triacids and analogs, so demonstrating the fascination of synthetic chemists for zaragozic acids