A facile synthetic route to complex polycyclic natural products through intramolecular alkylation with α-diazomethyl ketones

Some applications of the intramolecular alkylation of α-diazomethyl ketones through metal-catalysed addition and insertion reactions, and acid-catalysed olefinic and aryl participations, towards the synthesis of a variety of complex polycyclic natural products have been briefly reviewed with special emphasis on the results reported from the authors' laboratories. The possible mechanisms of the transition metal catalysed carbon-carbon bond forming reactions of carbenoids have been briefly discussed in the light of the recent literature