Ready Access to Benzodiazocines from Tryptamines: A Druggable Scaffold toward Antiviral Agents.

Herein we report the first synthesis of the proposed structure of a benzodiazocine natural product, peganutonin A. Considering the druggable nature of benzodiazocine and its limited exploration in the field of medicinal chemistry, we generalized the approach and created a library of compounds useful for various biological activities. Key steps in present approach include tryptamine cyclization facilitated by tert-butyl hypochlorite and cleavage of the fused indole ring using ozonolysis. Preliminary screening of the synthesized compounds resulted in potent antiviral compounds against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.