Asymmetric Synthesis of Bioactive Lactones and the Development of a Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of a-Aryl Ketones

This thesis addresses two fundamental areas in contemporary organic chemistry: synthesis of natural products and catalytic asymmetric synthesis. Firstly, a new methodology, developed by our research group, which allows the asymmetric synthesis of lactones, a structural unit ubiquitous in natural products, was utilised in the synthesis of a number of natural product analogues that showed significan...