Synthesis of desethanoqinghaosu, a novel analogue of the antimalarial qinghaosu

Desethanoqinghaosu, a novel potential antimalarial qinghaosu analogue containing the unique C–O–O–C–O–C–O–CO (or cyclic peroxide lactone) moiety present in the natural product, has been synthesized from R-(+)-citronellal and its structure and stereochemistry have been verified from spectral data and a single-crystal X-ray analysis.