Total Syntheses of Dihydroindole Alkaloids: Reductive Interrupted Fischer Indolization Followed by Redox Diversification.

We report a novel reductive interrupted Fischer indolization process for the concise assembly of the 20-oxoaspidospermidine framework. This rapid complexity generating route paves the way toward various dihydroindole alkaloids with different C-5 side chain redox patterns. The end-game redox modulations were accomplished by modified Wolff-Kishner reaction and photo-Wolff rearrangement, enabling the total synthesis of (-)-aspidospermidine, (-)-limaspermidine, and (+)-17-demethoxy--acetylcylindrocarine and the formal total synthesis of (-)-1-acetylaspidoalbidine.