The first total synthesis of pandamarine, an alkaloid isolated from Pandanus amaryllifolius is reported. The key step of this extremely short (six steps in total) and protecting group-free synthesis is a highly efficient cascade reaction sequence initiated by the photooxidation of an easily accessible and symmetric difuran precursor.
The first synthesis of racemic pandanusines A and B and pandalizine C, isolated from Pandanus amaryllifolius, is reported. The key synthetic step is an efficient tandem reaction sequence initiated by the photooxidation of an easily prepared furylalkylamine precursor. In this reaction sequence, methyleneblue plays a dual catalytic role of photosensitizer and redox catalyst, first in generating singlet