Strategies and Tactics in Organic Synthesis: Chapter 1. Total Synthesis of Strychnos Alkaloids Akuammicine, Strychnine, and Leuconicines A and B

Described herein is an account of my laboratory’s entry into the magnificent field of complex alkaloid total synthesis, spanning the development of novel methods for quickly assembling polycyclic frameworks through the total synthesis of various members of the Strychnos alkaloids. A discussion of the prior art related to our approach to these alkaloids in addition to strategic decisions and reasoning made en route to targets akuammicine ( 1 ), strychnine ( 2 ), and leuconicines A ( 3 ) and B ( 4 ) is carefully detailed. Finally, we present the retrosynthetic analyses of the aforementioned targets and respective total syntheses thereof (including asymmetric variants).