New Strategies for the Synthesis of Hexahydropyrroloindole Alkaloids Inspired by Biosynthetic Hypotheses

This account concerns synthetic studies of dimeric hexahydropyrroloindole alkaloids. 1 Introduction 2 A Biosynthetic Hypothesis for Calycanthaceous Alkaloids 3 Background 3.1 Prior Synthetic Studies of Calycanthaceous Alkaloids 3.2 Overman’s Enantioselective Syntheses of Chimonanthine 4 Our Work on the Syntheses of Hexahydropyrroloindole Alkaloids 4.1 Early Synthetic Studies of Chimonanthine 4.2 Development of a Cobalt(I)-Promoted Reductive Dimerization Strategy 4.3 New Directions and Our Biosynthetic Hypothesis for Dimeric Indole Alkaloids 5 Conclusion