Figure 1.
(top) Helenalin is a pseudoguaianolide natural product with two Michael acceptors. 1a and 1b mimic the biological activity of helenalin.[9b] (bottom) We report a synthesis of helenalin analogues with varied Michael acceptors, the kinetic reactivities of helenalin analogues to thiols, and the NF-κB inhibitory activities of a number of helenalin analogues.