Syntheses of manzacidins: a stage for the demonstration of synthetic methodologies

Manzacidins, a family of bromopyrrole alkaloids, have attracted much attention from the synthetic community due to their intriguing structures, bearing chiral tertiary and secondary stereocentres in a 1,3-relationship, and biological activities. In this article, we summarise the approaches for the preparation of manzacidins using novel synthetic methodologies. Organocatalysis and Lewis acid catalysis, as well as transition-metal catalysis, offered efficient ways to access these molecules.