Concise total syntheses of (±)-mesembrane and (±)-crinane.

A straightforward and unified strategy to access Amaryllidaceae alkaloids comprising a cis-3a-aryloctahydroindole scaffold has been developed. The strategy features Eschenmoser-Claisen rearrangement of allylalcohol as a key step for the installation of all-carbon quaternary stereocenters present in these alkaloids. The consequent iodolactonization-reduction-oxidation sequence beautifully assembles the advanced intermediate keto-aldehyde 10a, b in synthetically viable yields. The methodology has been successfully applied in the efficient syntheses of (±)-mesembrane (1a) and (±)-crinane (2a).