Reported is the enantioselective total syntheses of mavacuran alkaloids,( + +)-taberdivarine H, (+ +)-16-hydroxymethyl-pleiocarpamine,a nd (+ +)-16-epi-pleiocarpamine,a nd their postulated biosynthetic precursor 16-formyl-pleiocarpamine.This family of monoterpene indole alkaloids is atarget of choice since some of its members are subunits of intricate bisindole alkaloids such as bipleiophylline.I nspired by the biosynthetic hypothesis,a no xidative coupling approach from the geissoschizine framework to form the N1ÀC16 bond was explored. Quaternization of the aliphatic nitrogen center was key to achieving the oxidative coupling induced by KHMDS/I 2 as it masks the nucleophilicity of the aliphatic nitrogen center and locksi nt he required cis conformation.Supporting information and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under: https://doi.Zuschriften Scheme 3. Synthesis of (+ +)-16-deformyl-geissoschizine [(+ +)-22], (+ +)-geissoschizine [(+ +)-1], and the geissoschizine malonate (À)-23 according to our previous work. [13] AIBN = 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile, Boc = tert-butoxycarbonyl, COD = 1,5-cyclooctadiene, DMAP = 4-(N,Ndimethylamino)pyridine, LDA = lithium diisopropylamide, TFA = trifluoroacetica cid.Scheme 4. Total synthesis of (+ +)-16-epi-pleiocarpamine [(+ +)-5]a nd (+ +)-16-hydroxymethyl pleiocarpamine[(+ +)-3]byN 1 ÀC16 oxidative cyclization from N4-PMB-geissoschizinium derivatives. DIBAL-H = diisobutylaluminum hydride, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide, PMB = pmethoxybenzyl, TMS = trimethylsilyl.