Rapid Synthesis of Ismine, a Bioactive Amaryllidaceae Alkaloid

A Review on Recent Syntheses of Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids and Isocarbostyrils (Time period mid-2016 to 2017)

Alkaloids from the Amaryllidaceae have become valuable targets for synthetic organic chemists, mainly due to their wide variety of bioactivities and potential for utilization in medicinal chemistry ventures. In addition, the structural complexity of a number of these alkaloids has also been a reason for the interest in these compounds. In this review, the last 18 months of literature was perused and synthetic highlights have been presented here, with the hope to further focus attention on this interesting class of compounds and to encourage others to synthesize these compounds and their derivatives and/or analogues. The review contains examples of syntheses from most of the important alkaloid scaffold classes previously isolated from the Amaryllidaceae, namely: lycorine, crinine, galanthamine, tazettine, montanine, phenanthridone, phenanthridine, plicamine, mesembrine and some minor scaffolds (like gracilamine).