Expedient total synthesis of pyrrothine natural products and analogs

This paper describes an expedient and straightforward total synthesis of the two pyrrothine natural products holomycin (7 steps, 11% overall) and xenorhabdin I (7 steps, 11% overall) and analogs thereof via a common late-stage intermediate. The pathway proceeds via the pyrrothine hydrochloride intermediate (6 steps, 17% overall) which also gave access to very fast synthesis of analogs as demonstrated by the synthesis of, and (7 steps, 11-12% overall).