The first total synthesis of tricyclic marine alkaloids (()-fasicularin (2) and (()-lepadiformine (5) was accomplished. The key common strategic element for the synthesis is the stereocontrolled intramolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of an N-acylnitroso moiety to an exocyclic diene with or without bromine substitution to control the syn-facial or anti-facial selectivity, respectively, leading to the trans-or cis-fused decahydroquinoline ring systems 21 or 39 involving the simultaneous introduction of the nitrogenated quaternary center in a single step. On further elaboration of the six-membered or five-membered ring A, the trans-fused adduct 21 provided either (()-fasicularin (2) or (()-lepadiformine ( 5). The hydrochloride salt of synthetic (()-5 was found to be identical with the isolated natural sample of lepadiformine; however, the tricyclic amino alcohol 4 having the proposed structure of lepadiformine in a nonzwitterionic form, derived from the cis-fused adduct 39, was found to be different from lepadiformine by spectral comparison. These results thus unambiguously established the relative stereochemistry of lepadiformine, formerly assigned incorrectly, to be 3R*,5S*,7aR*,11aR* shown by 5.

The first total syntheses of new monoterpene alkaloids (-)-incarvilline, (+)-incarvine C, and (-)-incarvillateine, corresponding to the natural enantiomers, have been accomplished. The strategy for the synthesis of these natural products utilized 6-epi-incarvilline as a common precursor, which was assembled by a three-component coupling reaction using (4S)-4-siloxy-2-cyclopenten-1-one to construct an appropriately trisubstituted cyclopentanone, followed by ring closure to the cis-perhydro-2-pyrindine skeleton by means of a reductive Heck-type reaction. Furthermore, topochemically controlled [2 + 2] photodimerization of cinnamic acid derivatives in the solid state for the stereospecific construction of a 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted cyclobutane ring was also investigated as a means to access (-)-incarvillateine.

Fasicularin is a structurally novel thiocyanate-containing alkaloid isolated from the ascidian Nephteis fasicularis. Early biological experiments suggested that this compound's cytotoxic properties may stem from its ability to damage cellular DNA. Sequence gel analysis reveals that treatment of a 5'-32P-labeled DNA duplex with fasicularin in pH 7.0 buffer causes strand cleavage selectively at guanine residues. Further experiments indicate that production of these base-labile lesions in DNA involves alkylation of guanine residues by a fasicularin-derived aziridinium ion. This work reveals fasicularin as the first natural product found to generate a DNA-alkylating aziridinium ion via a mechanism analogous to the clinically used anticancer drugs mechlorethamine, melphalan, and chlorambucil.

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A very short and efficient enantioselective total synthesis of the tricyclic marine alkaloids (-)-lepadiformine (3), (+)-cylindricine C (1c), and (-)-fasicularin (4) has been developed utilizing the formyloxy 1-azaspiro[4.5]decane 5 as a common intermediate. The key strategic element for the synthesis was the formic acid-induced intramolecular conjugate azaspirocyclization, which proved to be a highly efficient and stereoselective way to rapid construction of the 1-azaspirocyclic substructure of these natural products in a single operation. Thus, the common intermediate 5, synthesized in two steps with 70% overall yield starting from the known (S)-N-Boc-2-pyrrolidinone 7 via the conjugate spirocyclization using an acyclic ketoamide 6, was utilized for the concise and stereoselective total synthesis of (-)-lepadiformine (3), which was accomplished in seven steps with 45% overall yield from 5 (31% yield from 7). The developed strategy based on the conjugate spirocyclization was also applied to the stereoselective total synthesis of (+)-cylindricine C (1c), which was achieved in 10 steps from 5 in 18% overall yield (12% yield from 7). Further application of this approach using 5 led to the synthesis of (-)-fasicularin (4), wherein an extremely efficient method for the introduction of the thiocyanato group via an aziridinium intermediate at the last step was developed. Thus, the highly efficient first enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-fasicularin was accomplished in nine steps with an overall yield of 41% from 5 (28% yield from 7).

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The first syntheses of (-)-lepadins A and C, as well as a new synthesis of (-)-lepadin B, have been achieved from commercially available (S)-malic acid. The methodology is based on an intramolecular hetero-Diels--Alder reaction of the acylnitroso compound, affording the bicyclic oxazino lactam with trans selectivity, which was converted to the cis-decahydroquinoline via asymmetric enolate hydroxylation followed by intramolecular aldol cyclization. The total syntheses proceed by employing cis-decahydroquinoline bearing the (E)-iodoalkenyl group as the common key intermediate, which underwent a convergent coupling with the (E)-hexenyl unit via a palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction for the elaboration of the octadienyl side chain at the C5 position.

The natural Z isomer of (+)-streptazolin (1), isolated from cultures of Streptomyces viridochromogenes, was synthesized in an optically pure form for the first time on the basis of a palladium-catalyzed enyne bicyclization approach in 12 steps and 4.3% overall yield from (3R,4R)-3,4-bis(benzyloxy)succinimide (5). The requisite enyne 13 for palladium-catalyzed bicyclization was prepared from 5 via N-acyliminium ion cyclization of the acetoxy lactam 9, partial reduction of 10 with DIBALH−BuLi, and conversion to the dibromo olefin 12. The best result in the palladium-catalyzed bicyclization was obtained when treated with 30 mol % Pd(OAc)2 and N,N  ‘-bis(benzylidene)ethylenediamine (BBEDA) as the ligand in benzene at reflux, thus affording a 93:7 mixture of the 1,2,4a,7a,6,7-hexahydro-5H-1-pyrindine (Z)-14 along with its isomerized product (Z)-15 in 84% total yield. The isomerization of the 1,4-diene in (Z)-14 to the 1,3-diene was achieved by treatment with triiron dodecacarbonyl to generate the stable tricarbonyl(η4-1,3-diene)iron complex 16, which was then converted to the glycol 17. Treatment of 17 with sodium methoxide followed by ordinary chromatography on silica gel resulted in isolation of chemically and enantiomerically pure (+)-streptazolin (1).