One-pot total syntheses of natural products containing a THP-ring backbone: (±)-centrolobine and (±)-civet cat secretion

A one-pot strategy is devised and applied to the total syntheses of natural products with a THP-ring backbone. A special feature of this one-pot synthesis is the recyclability of the indium complex byproduct generated from the indium-mediated allylation reaction for concurrent catalysis in subsequent steps. Centrolobine and civet cat secretion are synthesized via this new method in overall yields of 58% and 23%, respectively. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.