Recent advances in the total synthesis of piperidine and pyrrolidine natural alkaloids with ring-closing metathesis as a key step

This microreview focuses on recent applications of the ring-closing metathesis reaction (RCM) to construct piperidine and pyrrolidine cores for the total synthesis of natural alkaloids. The most recent examples are described, from simple piperidine alkaloids to complex pentacyclic structures such as (+)-tabersonine. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003).