Catalytic Asymmetric Total Syntheses of (−)-Galanthamine and (−)-Lycoramine

Abstract

The catalytic asymmetric total syntheses of the biologically important and therapeutically valuable <i>Amaryllidaceae</i> alkaloids (-)-galanthamine and (-)-lycoramine have been divergently achieved from commercially available 3-butyn-1-ol. A newly developed spirocyclic pyrrolidine (SPD)-catalyzed enantioselective Robinson annulation rapidly constructs the key <i>cis</i>-hydrodibenzofuran core, which bears an all-carbon quaternary stereocenter of the target molecules with an excellent stereoselective control. Additionally, the current asymmetric synthetic strategy provides an alternative approach toward the syntheses of (-)-galanthamine and its analogues.