General entry to aspidosperma alkaloids: enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-aspidophytine.

A general approach toward the asymmetric total synthesis of various aspidosperma alkaloids includes the combination of a C-H bond activation with a Heck-type coupling, and the stereo-controlled formation of piperidine and pyrrolidine rings as key steps. The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated with the total synthesis of aspidophytine in 18 steps from 4,4-disubstituted cyclohexanedione and 2,3-dimethoxyaniline.