The first total synthesis of tricyclic marine alkaloids (()-fasicularin (2) and (()-lepadiformine (5) was accomplished. The key common strategic element for the synthesis is the stereocontrolled intramolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of an N-acylnitroso moiety to an exocyclic diene with or without bromine substitution to control the syn-facial or anti-facial selectivity, respectively, leading to the trans-or cis-fused decahydroquinoline ring systems 21 or 39 involving the simultaneous introduction of the nitrogenated quaternary center in a single step. On further elaboration of the six-membered or five-membered ring A, the trans-fused adduct 21 provided either (()-fasicularin (2) or (()-lepadiformine ( 5). The hydrochloride salt of synthetic (()-5 was found to be identical with the isolated natural sample of lepadiformine; however, the tricyclic amino alcohol 4 having the proposed structure of lepadiformine in a nonzwitterionic form, derived from the cis-fused adduct 39, was found to be different from lepadiformine by spectral comparison. These results thus unambiguously established the relative stereochemistry of lepadiformine, formerly assigned incorrectly, to be 3R*,5S*,7aR*,11aR* shown by 5.

The first total syntheses of new monoterpene alkaloids (-)-incarvilline, (+)-incarvine C, and (-)-incarvillateine, corresponding to the natural enantiomers, have been accomplished. The strategy for the synthesis of these natural products utilized 6-epi-incarvilline as a common precursor, which was assembled by a three-component coupling reaction using (4S)-4-siloxy-2-cyclopenten-1-one to construct an appropriately trisubstituted cyclopentanone, followed by ring closure to the cis-perhydro-2-pyrindine skeleton by means of a reductive Heck-type reaction. Furthermore, topochemically controlled [2 + 2] photodimerization of cinnamic acid derivatives in the solid state for the stereospecific construction of a 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted cyclobutane ring was also investigated as a means to access (-)-incarvillateine.

Fasicularin is a structurally novel thiocyanate-containing alkaloid isolated from the ascidian Nephteis fasicularis. Early biological experiments suggested that this compound's cytotoxic properties may stem from its ability to damage cellular DNA. Sequence gel analysis reveals that treatment of a 5'-32P-labeled DNA duplex with fasicularin in pH 7.0 buffer causes strand cleavage selectively at guanine residues. Further experiments indicate that production of these base-labile lesions in DNA involves alkylation of guanine residues by a fasicularin-derived aziridinium ion. This work reveals fasicularin as the first natural product found to generate a DNA-alkylating aziridinium ion via a mechanism analogous to the clinically used anticancer drugs mechlorethamine, melphalan, and chlorambucil.

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