Expeditious biomimetically-inspired approaches to racemic homocitric acid lactone and per-homocitrate

Two concise and flexible biomimetically-inspired approaches to homocitric acid lactone (3) and its higher homolog, triethyl per-homocitrate (12), are presented herein. The key steps include an efficient indium metal-mediated allylation–oxidative cleavage procedure and a one-step ethoxycarbonylmethylation of α-oxo-diesters.