Ml. Bennasar et al., A SYNTHETIC ROUTE TO THE ALKALOIDS OF THE ERVATAMINE GROUP - FIRST TOTAL SYNTHESIS OF (+ -)-6-OXO-16-EPISILICINE/, Chemical communications, (24), 1996, pp. 2755-2756
A general route to silicine-methuenine alkaloids, exemplified by. the
synthesis of 6-oxo-16-episilicine, involving the nucleophilic addition
of an acetylindole enolate to the pyridinium salt 2, methoxycarbonyla
tion of the resulting 1,4-dihydropyridine, controlled catalytic hydrog
enation, cyclization on the indole 3-position and further functional g
roup manipulations, is reported.