Recent advances in the total synthesis of agelastatins*

Agelastatins represent an important family of marine alkaloids in terms of both exceptional biological activity and intriguing chemical structure. In this article, the isolation and biological activity of agelastatins are reviewed, and proposed biosynthetic pathways are summarized. The main focus is given to comparative evaluation of recent total syntheses, mainly of agelastatin A. To date, this has been accomplished by 11 research groups. Their synthetic routes are analyzed and summarized, with a view to furnishing the reader with insight into different strategic design approaches to assembly of a densely functionalized and compact structure.