Planta Med 2012; 78 - PI352
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1321039

Towards the biomimetic synthesis of bipleiophylline

K Ahamada 1, L Evanno 1, E Poupon 1
  • 1Université Paris-Sud, Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie associé au CNRS, UMR 8076 BioCIS, LabEx LERMIT, 5, rue Jean-Baptiste Clément, 92296 Châtenay-Malabry Cedex, France

Bipleiophylline is a cytotoxic indolomonoterpenic alkaloid recently isolated from the bark of Alstonia angustifolia (Apocynaceae).1 This is probably one of the most complex indole structures that can be encountered in nature. Of particular interest for us is the assembly of the aromatic central core of bipleiophylline that we wish to mimic in a biomimetic way. The progress towards the total synthesis of this intriguing natural substance in which we are currently engaged will be presented.

[1] T-S. Kam, S.-J. Tan, S.-W. Ng, K. Komiyama, Org. Lett, 2008, 10, 3749–3752.