Photochemical 1,3‐Acyl Shifts in Natural Product Synthesis

Abstract Photochemical, sigmatropic 1,3‐acyl shifts represent a powerful tool to construct quaternary carbon atoms and the backbones of complex natural products which cannot be constructed easily by conventional methods. This review highlights applications of 1,3‐acyl shifts to elegant, partly biomimetic total syntheses of natural products by discussing the underlying photochemical equilibrium.