In 1983, Baassou and coworkers reported the isolation of the alkaloid melonine from <i>Melodinus celastroides </i>Baill, a plant that is endemic to New Caledonia. Based on spectroscopic data, the natural product was assigned the rearranged-<i>Aspidosperma</i> framework shown. Although the biological activity of melonine was not reported, plants of this family are renowned for their healing properties and are used widely in traditional folk medicine. Intrigued by the unique architecture of melonine, we developed a route that enables a rapid synthesis of its carbon core. During the course of our work, however, the structure of melonine was reassigned, as shown. In this presentation, we will describe our progress towards the synthesis of both frameworks of melonine.

Synthetic studies towards Melonine

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