The research will proceed in two general areas. (1) Total synthesis of the unusual natural product, fomannosin, a toxic metabolite of a wood-rotting fungus. (2) New methods of synthesis involving organometallic and electrochemical techniques for generation of reactive carbon intermediates. This work will be a continuation of our studies of organonickel intermediates; the goal is to prepare a discrete polymer-supported catalyst and to develop trifluorophosphine complexes as synthesis intermediates. Electrochemistry will be used to generate carbanions selectively and to prepare a delicate natural cumulene.