UC Berkeley

This dissertation describes our syntheses of several lycodine-type Lycopodium alkaloids by the late-stage C-H functionalization of lycodine derivatives. Lycodine-type alkaloids are well-known for their neurological activity. For example, huperzine A is a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and the complanadine family of molecules has been shown to induce the secretion of Nerve Growth Factor. Due to these properties, lycodine-type alkaloids serve as interesting lead compounds for the development of new therapies for neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Unsurprisingly, these molecules have attracted the attention of the synthetic community. Chapter 1 reviews syntheses of lycodine-type Lycopodium alkaloids with particular emphasis on the syntheses of biologically active congeners. Chapter 2 describes our synthesis of complanadine B, an unsymmetrical dimer of lycodine, using two approaches. In the first, the requisite skeletal oxygenation was installed early in the synthetic sequence. Our second approach utilized a blocking group strategy to enable the late-stage oxygenation of the complanadine skeleton by preventing oxygenation at undesired sites. Chapter 3 describes our efforts toward the synthesis of the casuarinine family of Lycopodium alkaloids by the late-stage C-H functionalization of lycodine derivatives. Using this strategy, we have been able to complete the synthesis of casuarinine D and have made significant progress toward the synthesis of casuarinine H, which we believe can serve as an intermediate in the synthesis of several other lycodine-type alkaloids.