General approach for the synthesis of sarpagine/ajmaline indole alkaloids. Stereospecific total synthesis of the sarpagine alkaloid (+)-vellosimine

GRAPHICS (+)-Vellosimine has been synthesized enantiospecifically in 27% overall yield from commercially available D-(+)-tryptophan methyl ester via the asymmetric Pictet-Spengler reaction and a stereocontrolled intramolecular palladium-coupling reaction as key steps.