The total synthesis of (−)-indolactam I

The first total synthesis of (−)-indolactam I (1) is reported. An efficient synthetic route was established to furnish the natural product in 8 steps. This strategy employed a copper-catalyzed amino acid arylation, peptide coupling, and Lewis acid-mediated macrocyclization to yield 1 from readily available building blocks. In addition, the cell growth inhibition activity of the natural product was examined through assays with the K562 leukemia cell line.