Practical total synthesis of fuligocandins A and B

Fuligocandins A and B, cycloanthranilylproline derivatives isolated from the myxomycete Fuligo candida, were synthesized efficiently by a Meyer-Schuster rearrangement, which gave Z-isomer with high selectivity. The absolute stereochemistry at C-11a of the natural products was determined to be S by comparison of the optical rotation of the natural products with synthetic counterparts derived from l-proline. This report is the first total synthesis of optically active fuligocandin B.