Pausanias and the Stymphalian Birds

Abstract

‘In Stymphalos there is also an old sanctuary of Stymphalian Artemis. The image is of wood, mostly gilded. On the roof of the temple there are also representations of the Stymphalian birds. It was difficult to discern clearly whether they were made of wood or plaster, but my examination suggested that they were of wood rather than plaster.’Pausanias' reference to the Stymphalian birds of the temple at Stymphalos was taken by the German scholar, Bliimner, to indicate that stucco reliefs were produced by the Greeks; and, despite the caution of Miss E. L. Wadsworth, 3 the inference that plaster was used for architectural sculptures of some form in Classical (or even pre-Classical) Greece has clearly been accepted by M. Cagiano de Azevedo and N. Bonacasa in the two great Italian encyclopedias of art.

Total Synthesis of (+)-Isatisine A

“…Stronger oxidants such as m -CPBA or in situ generated DMDO did not furnish any indoxyl species. Gratifyingly, EAS of indoxyl 26 with indole took place under very mild reaction conditions and in high yield to produce compound 28 . Construction of the pyrroloindolone ring was more difficult than anticipated; standard conditions for direct lactam formation proved unsuccessful until a two-step procedure involving hydrolysis of the ester to carboxylic acid 29 followed by EDC-induced cyclization was able to furnish the model compound 21 in 66% yield over the two steps.…”

“…Sn(OTf) 2 (0.35 g, 0.84 mmol) was placed in a flask equipped with a stir bar and purged with argon. Cyclopropane 32e (2.2 g, 8.45 mmol) and aldehyde 31b (3.5 g, 11.8 mmol) were dissolved in 9 mL of CH 2 Cl 2 and added to the flask …”

“…To compound 60 (0.071 g, 0.20 mmol) in CH 2 Cl 2 (9 mL) was added a solution of m -CPBA (0.11 g of 66% by mass, 0.41 mmol) in CH 2 Cl 2 (9 mL) at room temperature. The reaction was monitored by TLC and upon consumption of the starting material (1.5 h) the mixture was added to a separatory funnel containing a saturated solution of NaHCO 3 and extracted with CH 2 Cl 2 (3×).…”

“…Oxidation of the indole C2−C3 double bond has been well documented, where the identities of the oxidation products depend on the nature of the substituents on the N1, C2, and C3 positions of the indole. Reagents that have been shown to oxidize indole include (hexamethylphosphoramide)oxodiperoxomolybdenum(VI) (MoO 5 ·HMPA), bis(acetylacetonato)oxovanadium(IV), dimethyl dioxirane, singlet oxygen, and m -CPBA . Important examples within these studies, which are pertinent to our proposed route, are instances where indole oxidation was followed by electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS) on a second indole molecule with the indoxyl species (Figure ).…”