Synthetic Studies on Nodulisporic Acids with Multi-substituted Indole Skeleton

Abstract

Nodulisporic acids A-F, reported by Merck Research Laboratories, show unique biological activity against insects. For the synthesis of Nodulisporic acid F, Smith’s group has developed a new method to construct the indole skeleton and has achieved its first total synthesis. To construct the more advanced Nodulisporic acids, they have developed a new strategy exploiting a palladium-mediated cross-coupling/indole construction tactic based on the Barluenga’s chemistry and have achieved the first total syntheses of Nodulisporic acids D, C, and B via a unified synthetic strategy. In this review, synthetic studies on Nodulisporic acids by Smith’s group are described.