posted on 2010-09-03, 00:00authored byNina Deppermann, Heike Thomanek, Alexander H. G. P. Prenzel, Wolfgang Maison
The Pd-catalyzed intramolecular α-arylation of amides is applied to the synthesis of functionalized spirooxindoles. The substrate scope is evaluated, and the reaction is demonstrated to be useful for the assembly of spirooxindole natural products and derivatives thereof. As an application, a new synthesis of horsfiline 1 is presented, giving the natural product in only 4 steps from commercially available amino acid 12.