Tyrosine Alkaloids

Tyrosine serves as substrate for the biosynthesis of a variety of structurally diverse natural products, and some of these secondary metabolites are of great pharmacologic, historic, and economic importance. This chapter provides an overview of the most important biosynthetic pathways leading to tyrosine alkaloids. It outlines the synthetic approaches toward members of this class of secondary metabolites, mainly tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids and opiates. The focus is on biosynthetic routes and biomimetic synthesis. The chapter discusses various methods that have been elaborated to allow the formation of aryl-aryl bonds. Additionally, the chemical syntheses described within the chapter have also been chosen in such a way as to present and discuss interesting strategies for the crucial aryl-aryl coupling reaction. These natural products have played an important role in the development of oxidative coupling protocols as well as transition metal-catalyzed procedures.