We have accomplished the asymmetric
synthesis of (8S,9S,10R,6Z)-trihydroxyoctadec-6-enoic acid in optically
pure form and determined the absolute configuration of the natural
product on the basis of the stereodetermined chiral building block 7, which was prepared by the catalytic enantioselective allylic
oxidation of 4,5-epoxycyclohex-1-ene using an S-configured
N,N-bidentate ligand–copper catalyst.