Figure 2.

Testing potential biomimetic routes to 1 involving sulfur dioxide capture. A) Radical starters such as azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) or dibenzoyl peroxide (DBP) in the presence of Na₂SO₃ can promote the formation of trace amounts of 1 from chromanol 5, whereas chromane 3 does not show any conversion, even when using other sulfur sources like gaseous sulfur dioxide or DABSO. B) Extracted ion chromatograms (HPLC‐HRMS); a) start of reaction; b) after 24 hours; c) synthetic reference of 1.