Oxidative electro-organic synthesis of dimeric hexahydropyrrolo-[2,3-b]indole alkaloids involving PCET: total synthesis of (±)-folicanthine.

An efficient electrochemical oxidation strategy for the total synthesis of a dimeric hexahydropyrrolo[2,3-b]indole alkaloid, (±)-folicanthine (1b), has been envisioned. Control experiments suggest that a PCET pathway involving stepwise electron transfer followed by proton transfer (ET-PT) was involved in the key oxidative dimerization process.