It was envisaged that Taxol (51) could be accessed through tail addition of the Ojima lactam 48 to alcohol 47. Of the four rings of Taxol, the D ring was formed last, the result of a simple intramolecular SN2 reaction of hydroxytosylate 38, which could be synthesized from hydroxyketone 27. Formation of the six-membered C ring took place through a Dieckmann condensation of lactone 23, which could be obtained through a Chan rearrangement of carbonate ester 15. Substrate 15 could be derived from ketone 6, which, after several oxidations and rearrangements, could be furnished from commercially available patchoulene oxide 1.
