Concise total synthesis of dihydrocorynanthenol, protoemetinol, protoemetine, 3-epi-protoemetinol and emetine

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/ejoc.201101296

A concise asymmetric assembly of secologanine tryptamine and dopamine alkaloids by means of a one-pot three-component cascade reaction methodology is disclosed. This is demonstrated by the expeditious total syntheses of (-)-dihydrocorynanthenol, (-)-protoemetinol, (-)-protoemetine, (-)-3-epi-protoemetinol, and emetine (3-6 steps). The biomimetic synthetic strategy involved the following key steps: (i) One-pot three-component highly enantioselective catalytic Michael/Pictet-Spengler/lactamization cascade reactions; (ii) One-pot tandem Swern oxidation/Wittig sequences; (iii) One-pot tandem hydrogenation sequences. Copyright