Syntheses of Strychnan- and Aspidospermatan-Type Alkaloids. 9.1 The Enantioselective Generation of Tetracyclic ABCE Intermediates by a Tandem Condensation, [3,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangement, and Cyclization Sequence

Reactions of substituted acroleins with the tryptophan-derived benzyl 2-(benzylamino)-3-[3-[2-[(methoxycarbonyl)methyl]indolyl]]propionate gave tetracyclic hexahydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-d] intermediates with stereoselective placement of substituents for cyclization to pentacyclic Strychnos alkaloids. The benzyl ester moiety was readily removed by formation of a corresponding nitrile and reduction, thus providing enantioselective syntheses of the tetracyclic compounds.