The synthesis of cribrostatin 6 analogs

The compound cribrostatin 6, isolated in 2003 from the blue colored marine sponge Cribrochalina sp., has been found to exhibit both potent antimicrobial activity, as well as antineoplastic activity, making it of interest for its biological functionalities, as well as its unique tricyclic imidazo[5,1-a]isoquinolinedione structure. Using recently established methodology by Knueppel and Martin, known to be the shortest reported sequence of steps to synthesize this compound, analogs of cribrostatin 6 can be designed and synthesized to potentially find more biologically effective analogues, which can also be tested for antimicrobial and antineoplastic activity. Currently efforts are underway on the synthesis of additional analogs of cribrostatin 6.Chemistr