Total syntheses of six brominated marine sponge bis(indole) alkaloids of the hamacanthin, spongotine, and topsentin classes are described.Retrosynthetic analysis shows that their structures all include the 1-(6'-bromoindol-3'-yl)-1,2-diaminoethane unit
13a. This key moiety hasbeen prepared from brominated indolic
N-hydroxylamine
5b via synthetic intermediate
8b.