Qin and co-workers use photocatalytic conditions to generate a nitrogencentered radical from aniline-type sulfonamide, which reverses the conventional reactivity between two electron-donating amine and enamine groups and initiates radical cascade reactions with excellent chemo-, regio-, and diastereoselectivity. The power of this distinct method has been demonstrated by the efficient syntheses of 33 monoterpenoid indole alkaloids belonging to four families.

The bulk supply of the antiviral C -nucleoside analogue remdesivir is largely hampered by a low-yielding C -glycosylation step in which the base is coupled to the pentose unit. Here, we disclose a significantly improved methodology for this critical transformation. By utilizing diisopropylamine as a cost-effective additive, the addition reaction furnishes an optimal yield of 75% of the desired ribofuranoside adduct, representing the highest yield obtained thus far for this key step. The method proved suitable for hectogram scale synthesis without column chromatographic operations.

We reported the first successful preparation of fully functionalized aconitine AE fragment and attempts to access the pentacyclic skeleton of aconitine via radical cascade.

As one of the largest and most representative families of natural medicines harvested from plants, the mass production of opioids legitimately occupies large farmland for the cultivation of opium poppies in the world, causing serious regulation difficulty and supply uncertainty. Due to their complex structures, chemical synthesis of opioids has been criticized infeasible for large-scale production in view of lengthy synthetic steps and low overall efficiency. Here we report a practical and scalable total synthesis of oxycodone, codeine, and related opioids by imitating the biosynthetic dearomatization arene coupling reaction, which allows efficient preparation of a key thebaine-like core on decagram scale.For the synthesis of oxycodone and codeine, less than eight continuous operations and one column chromatography purification were required throughout the synthesis in 11% and 13%