Enantioselective Formal Syntheses of 11 Nuphar Alkaloids and Discovery of Potent Apoptotic Monomeric Analogues

Concise, scalable, and enantioselective formal syntheses of eight dimeric and three monomeric nuphar alkaloids were achieved, along with the construction of a stereochemically diverse collection of the first known monomeric analogues having apoptotic activity. The syntheses involved the development of highly enantioselective Brønsted acid catalyzed vinylogous Mukaiyama–Mannich reactions, which feature the unprecedented use of a supersilyl group to control the regio‐, enantio‐ and diastereoselectivity. Biological studies reveal that several of these novel nuphar analogues are even more potent than their dimeric natural product counterparts.