Total Syntheses of Isowondonins Based on a Biosynthetic Pathway.

The first total syntheses of (-)-isowondonin A and (-)-isowondonin B, which are unusual imidazole marine alkaloids, has been accomplished through the development of methods for the selective formation of styryl sulfate group and regioselective alkylation of the imidazole. Application of the Noyori asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones allows the asymmetric synthesis. These results in conjunction with ECD calculations led to the determination of the absolute configuration of isowondonins.