Murrayamines-O and -P are two novel pentacyclic alkaloids isolated from plants of genus Murraya – flowering plants that have been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of fever, pain, diabetics, dysentery, painful inflammatory conditions, to induce labor and for cancer treatments.

Dattatraya H. Dethe and colleagues, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, have succeeded in the first enantiospecific total syntheses of the cannabinol-skeletal carbazole alkaloids murrayamines-O and -P (pictured). Synthesis of both natural products and their enantiomers were achieved in a highly atom economical and protecting-group free manner on the gram scale. The synthesis has a six steps longest linear sequence starting from (–)-(S)- and (+)-(R)-cis-verbenol.

This expands the number of natural products isolated that belong to this family of biologically active compounds to well over fifty.

• Enantiospecific Total Syntheses and Assignment of Absolute Configuration of Cannabinol-Skeletal Carbazole Alkaloids Murrayamines-O and -P,
  Dattatraya H. Dethe, Saikat Das, Balu D. Dherange, Samarpita Mahapatra,
  Chem. Eur. J. 2015.
  DOI: 10.1002/chem.201406434