Total synthesis of three natural phenethyl glycosides.

Phenethyl glycosides having phenolic or methoxy functions at benzene rings are substances widely occurring in nature. This kind of compounds has been shown to have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities. However, some of them are not naturally abundant, thus the synthesis of such molecules is desirable. In this paper, natural phenethyl glycosides 3 and 4 were first totally synthesized from easily available materials with overall yields of 50.5% and 40.1%, respectively. And a new synthetic route to obtain natural phenethyl glycoside 2 in 46.2% yield was also described.