The first total synthesis of the alkaloid (-)-haliclonin A is reported. The asymmetric synthesis relied on a novel organocatalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of nitromethane with 3-alkenyl cyclohex-2-enone to set the stereochemistry of the all-carbon quaternary stereogenic center. The synthesis also features a Pd-promoted cyclization to form the 3-azabicyclo[3,3,1]nonane core, a SmI2 -mediated intermolecular reductive coupling of enone with aldehyde to form the requisite secondary chiral alcohol, ring-closing alkene and alkyne metathesis reactions to build the two aza-macrocyclic ring systems, and an unprecedented direct transformation of enol into enone.

of main observation and conclusion We describe the full details of our total synthesis of haliclonin A, a macrocyclic natural product suggested to originate from a common biosynthetic intermediate as sarain A. Central to our synthetic route is the strategic employment of nitromethane for several purposes: (1) as an umpolung surrogate of an aminomethyl group; (2) as an ideal nucleophile for the highly enantioselective catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition to forge the challenging all-carbon quaternary stereogenic center that was used to induce the formations of all other chiral centers of the molecule; and (3) as a C1N1 building block to form the 3-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane framework. The realization of this strategy relied on the development of a novel organocatalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of nitromethane to 3-alkenyl cyclohex-2-enone, and the first Pd-promoted intramolecular coupling of a thiocarbamate moiety onto an electron-deficient alkene (enone) to form the 3-azabicyclo[3,3,1]nonane core. The synthesis also features a SmI2-mediated intermolecular reductive coupling of an enone with an aldehyde, ring-closing alkene and alkyne metathesis reactions to build the two aza-macrocycles, and an unprecedented direct transformation of enol into enone.

The powerful insecticidal and multi-drug-resistance-reversing activities displayed by the stemofoline group of alkaloids render them promising lead structures for further development as commercial agents in agriculture and medicine. However, concise, enantioselective total syntheses of stemofoline alkaloids remain a formidable challenge due to their structural complexity. We disclose herein the enantioselective total syntheses of four stemofoline alkaloids, including (+)-stemofoline, (+)-isostemofoline, (+)-stemoburkilline, and (+)-(11S,12R)-dihydrostemofoline, in just 19 steps. Our strategy relies on a biogenetic hypothesis, which postulates that stemoburkilline and dihydrostemofolines are biogenetic precursors of stemofoline and isostemofoline. Other highlights of our approach are the use of Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction to connect the two segments of the molecule, an improved protocol allowing gram-scale access to the tetracyclic cage-type core, and a Cu-catalyzed direct and versatile nucleophilic alkylation reaction on an anti-Bredt iminium ion. The synthetic techniques that we developed could also be extended to the preparation of other Stemona alkaloids.

This article describes the full details of our synthetic efforts toward the enantioselective total synthesis of the complex alkaloid methoxystemofoline. The enantioselective construction of the tetracyclic core features: (1) the Keck allylation at the N-α bridgehead carbon to forge the tetrasubstituted stereocenter; (2) an olefin cross-metathesis reaction for the side-chain elongation that is amenable for the synthesis of congeners and analogues; and(3) a regioselective aldol addition reaction with methyl pyruvate that ensured the subsequent regioselective cyclization reaction to construct the fourth ring. Overman's method was employed to install the 5-(alkoxyalky1idene)-3-methyl-tetronate moiety. In the last step, a nonstereoselective reaction resulted in the formation of both the proposed structure of methoxystemofoline and its Estereoisomer, the natural product (revised structure), in a 1:1 ratio. We suggest to rename the natural product as isomethoxystemofoline, and report for the first time the complete 1 H NMR data for this natural product.

We report a two-step approach to bicyclic and monocyclic 5-(1-alkoxyalkylidene)tetronates starting from lactones/esters. The method features the use of thionolactones and thionoesters as activated forms of lactones/esters that allows the direct condensation with tetronates via one-pot enolate formation, nucleophilic addition, S-methylation, and DBU-promoted elimination. The value of the method was demonstrated by the stereoselective syntheses of two natural products: 5,6-Z-fadyenolide (Z/E ratio = 6:1) and 9,10-methylenedioxy-5,6-Z-fadyenolide (Z/E ratio = 9:1).