Synthetic methods relying on gold complexes as catalysts have recently been the focus of intense development.1 Despite numerous advances, relatively few enantioselective gold-catalyzed transformations have been described. The earliest example of an enantioselective gold(I)-catalyzed transformation, the Hayashi-Ito aldol reaction, was proposed to rely on activation of the nucleophile as a chiral...

The first total syntheses of lysergine and setoclavine are described, as well as a new and efficient synthesis of lysergic acid. The starting material for these syntheses is tryptophan, protected as its dihydro, dibenzoyl derivative. This material is dehydrated to the corresponding azlactone, which undergoes stereoselective intramolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation to give a tricyclic ketone inte...

This acid was synthesized soon after its discovery in alcaptonuric urine by Baumann & Fraenkel (1894) from 2:5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde by successive conversion to the alcohol, chloride and nitrile, followed by hydrolysis. The overall yield was very poor, due mainly to side reactions occurring in the conversion of the chloride to the nitrile. Schoepf & Winterhalder (1940), who studied systematical...