Pyrroloindoline and bispyrroloindoline are a subclass of alkaloid structural motifs that commonly exhibit biological activity. An enantioselective organocatalytic approach to the synthesis of pyrroloindoline architecture is described. The addition-cyclization of tryptamines with ␣,-unsaturated aldehydes in the presence of imidazolidinone catalysts 1 and 8 provides pyrroloindoline adducts in high yield and excellent enantioselectivities. This transformation is successful for a wide range of tryptamine and ␣,-unsaturated aldehyde substrates. This amine-catalyzed sequence has been extended to the enantioselective construction of furanoindoline frameworks. Application of this pyrroloindoline-forming reaction to natural product synthesis has been accomplished in the context of the enantioselective synthesis of (؊)-flustramine B.
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