A facile total synthesis of rutaecarpine

The indoloquinazoline alkaloid rutaecarpine has been synthesized efficiently by employing 9,10,11,12-tetrahydro-4H-pyrido[2,1-b]quinazoline-4,9-dione (4) as a key intermediate, which was prepared by adapting a Dieckmann condensation–decarboxylation sequence from quinazolinone diester 6.