Arcyriacyanin A (1) has been synthesized by three different routes. In
the first synthesis the bisbromomagnesium salt of 2,4'-biindole (5) w
as treated with dibromomaleimide (6) to yield arcyriacyanin A (1). The
second approach used an intramolecular Heck reaction for the cyclizat
ion of a 4-(triflyloxy)arcyriarubin 8 to N-methylarcyriacyanin A (2),
Thirdly, compound 2 was obtained by a domino Heck reaction between (te
rt-butoxycarbonyl)indol-3-yl]-1-methylmaleimide (9) and 4-bromoindole
(10). The N-methyl derivative 2 could be transformed into arcyriacyani
n A (1) by standard methods.