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Harmicine, a Tetracyclic Tetrahydro-β-Carboline: From the First Synthetic Precedent to Isolation from Natural Sources to Target-Oriented Synthesis (Review)*

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Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds Aims and scope

Harmicine, a chiral tetrahydro-β-carboline with a rare tetracyclic pyrrolidine framework, was isolated from the plant Kopsia griffithii in 1998. Before that, harmicine had already appeared frequently in the chemical literature as a starting material for natural product synthesis and it had been used as a model substrate in various methodology studies. Herein we review the relevant information available on this heterocyclic natural product before and after its isolation and classification as a natural product.

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  1. Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, P. O. Box 16100, Aalto, 00076, Finland

    C. S. Lood & A. M. P. Koskinen

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  1. C. S. Lood
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Correspondence to A. M. P. Koskinen.

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*Dedicated to Professor Gunars Duburs on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Published in Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 10, pp. 1488-1509, October, 2014.

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Lood, C.S., Koskinen, A.M.P. Harmicine, a Tetracyclic Tetrahydro-β-Carboline: From the First Synthetic Precedent to Isolation from Natural Sources to Target-Oriented Synthesis (Review)* . Chem Heterocycl Comp 50, 1367–1387 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10593-014-1602-4

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