La pléiocarpamine est un alcaloïde indolo-monoterpénique de la famille des mavacurans. L’intérêt de cette substance naturelle réside dans sa capacité d’assemblage avec divers alcaloïdes indoliques donnant lieu à des bisindoles de structures complexes possédant des activités biologiques significatives. Plusieurs stratégies ont été étudiées pour la synthèse totale de ce composé pentacyclique. Notamment, la contraction d’un cétolactame a été envisagée pour la formation du cycle E. De manière inattendue, cette stratégie a conduit à la première synthèse totale de la (–)-17-nor-excelsinisine, un alcaloïde zwitterionique avec des activités antivirales. En parallèle, cette substance naturelle a été obtenue par cyclisation oxydante bioinspirée entre le formylester et l’atome d’azote aliphatique de la geissoschizine. La quaternarisation de ce dernier a ensuite permis de guider la chimiosélectivité de cette réaction vers le noyau indolique. Ainsi le couplage oxydant avec l’atome d’azote indolique a généré la liaison signature des mavacurans. Grâce à cette stratégie, plusieurs alcaloïdes de cette famille : (+)-taberdivarine H, (+)-16-hydroxyméthyl-pléiocarpamine et (+)-16-épi-pléiocarpamine, ont été synthétisés. Par la suite, une synthèse totale racémique de cette dernière a également été réalisée en seulement neuf étapes grâce à l’addition 1,4 intermoléculaire diastéréosélective d’un iodure de vinyle sur un indolylacrylate tétracyclique et à la fermeture finale du cycle D par substitution nucléophile. Le développement d’une version énantiosélective a été initié. Finalement, une étude a été réalisée pour la synthèse de la pycnanthinine, un bisindole dérivé de la pléiocarpamine. / Pleiocarpamine is a monoterpene indole alkaloid of the mavacuran family. The main interest of this natural product is its ability to assemble with various indole alkaloids to give structurally complex bisindoles with significant biological activities. Several strategies have been studied for the total synthesis of this pentacyclic compound. Especially, the ring contraction of a ketolactam was contemplated for E-ring formation. Unexpectedly, this strategy led to the first total synthesis of (–)-17-nor-excelsinisine, a zwitterionic alkaloid with antiviral activities. Simultaneously, this natural product was obtained via a bioinspired oxidative cyclization between the formylester and the aliphatic nitrogen atom of geissoschizine. Quaternarization of the latter allowed to guide the reaction chemoselectivity towards the indole nucleus. Therefore the oxidative coupling with the indolic nitrogen atom etablished the signature bond of the mavacurans. Thanks to this strategy, several alkaloids of this family: (+)-taberdivarine H, (+)-16-hydroxymethyl-pleiocarpamine and (+)-16-epi-pleiocarpamine, were synthetized. Subsequently, a racemic total synthesis of the latter was completed in only nine steps via a diastereoselective intermolecular 1,4 addition of a vinyl iodide into a tetracyclic indolylacrylate and a final D-ring closure by nucleophilic substitution. The development of an enantioselective version has been initiated. Finally, a study was performed for the assembly of pycnanthinine, a pleiocarpamine-derived bisindole.

<p> </p> <p>Infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, and plasmodium parasites are a huge global health problem which ultimately leads to millions of deaths annually. The emergence of strains that exhibit resistance to nearly every class of antimicrobial agents, and the inability to keep up with these resistance trends has brought to the fore the need for new therapeutic agents (antibacterial, antifungal, and antimalarial) with novel scaffolds and functionalities capable of targeting microbial resistance. A novel class of compounds featuring an aryl isonitrile moiety has been discovered that exhibits potent inhibitory activity against several clinically relevant strains of methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA). Synthesis, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, and biological investigations have led to lead molecules that exhibit anti-MRSA inhibitory activity as low as 1 – 2 µM. The most potent compounds have also been shown to have low toxicity against mammalian cells and exhibit <i>in vivo</i> efficacy in MRSA skin and thigh infection mouse models.</p> <p>The novel aryl isonitriles have also been evaluated for antifungal activity. This study examines the SAR of aryl isonitrile compounds and showed the isonitriles as compounds that exhibit broad spectrum antifungal activity against species of <i>Candida</i> and <i>Cryptococcus</i>. The most potent derivatives are capable of inhibiting growth of these pathogens at concentrations as low as 0.5 µM. Notably, the most active compounds exhibit excellent safety profile and are non-toxic to mammalian cells up to 256 µM.</p> <p>Beyond the antibacterial and antifungal activities, structure-antimalarial relationship analysis of over 40 novel aryl isonitrile compounds has established the importance of the isonitrile functionality as an important moiety for antimalarial activity. Of the many isonitrile compounds exhibiting potent antimalarial activity, two have emerged as leads with activity comparable to that of Artemisinin. The SAR details presented in this study will prove essential for the development new aryl isonitrile analogues to advance them to the next step in the antimalarial drug discovery process.</p> <p>17-nor-Excelsinidine, a zwitterion monoterpene indole alkaloid isolated from <i>Alstonia scholaris</i> is a subject of synthetic scrutiny. This is primarily due to its intriguing chemical structure which includes a bridged bicyclic ammonium moiety, and its anti-adenovirus and anti-HSV activity. Herein we describe a six-step total synthesis of (±)-17-nor-Excelsinidine from tryptamine. Key to the success of this synthesis is the use of palladium-catalyzed carbonylative heck lactamization methodology which built the 6, 7-membered ring lactam in one step. The resulting pentacyclic product, beyond facilitating the easy access to (±)-17-nor-Excelsinidine, could also serve as a precursor to other related indole alkaloids.</p> <br> <p> </p> <p></p>