Expedient construction of the [5-6-7] tricyclic core of calyciphylline a-type alkaloids.

An efficient synthetic route toward the highly congested [5-6-7] tricyclic core of calyciphylline A-type alkaloids has been developed. This approach features a highly efficient intramolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition to establish the aza-five-membered C ring as well as the C1 all-carbon quaternary center, and a subsequent cyclopropanation together with a ring-expansion reaction of the resulted adduct to construct the seven-membered D ring.