Title:Advances in the Total Synthesis of Gelsemine
Volume: 26
Issue: 4
Author(s): Liyan Yang and Zhonglei Wang*
Affiliation:
- Key Laboratory of Green Natural
Products and Pharmaceutical Intermediates in Colleges and Universities of Shandong Province, Key Laboratory of Life-Organic
Analysis of Shandong Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, P.R. China
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P.R. China
Keywords:
Gelsemine, indole alkaloid, Alzheimer's disease, total synthesis, asymmetric synthesis, hexacyclic cage structures.
Abstract: Gelsemine is a remarkable indole alkaloid isolated from the medicinal plant Gelsemium
elegans (Carolina or yellow jasmine) and demonstrates effectiveness in alleviating cognitive
impairment, suggesting it could treat Alzheimer's disease. Gelsemine comprises seven
adjoining chiral carbon centres and hexacyclic cage structures, making it an oddly difficult
synthetic target. The unique structure and potential bio-pharmacological properties of gelsemine
have led to the publication of nine interesting total syntheses of gelsemine (including
three asymmetric syntheses) in the near past three decades by eight distinguished research
groups. Several strategies are brimming with modern concepts of synthesis, such as highly
enantioselective organocatalytic Diels–Alder reaction and the biomimetic enol–oxonium cyclization
reaction. To better explore the therapeutic effects of gelsemine, this review summarizes
the progress in the total synthesis tactics and strategies of the fascinating natural product gelsemine.