The Strychnos indole alkaloid natural products have long excited the synthetic and medicinal chemistry community due to their potent biological properties and unique architectural complexity (Fig. ). The flagship member of this family -strychnine -was infamously described by Robinson that 'for its molecular size, it is the most complex substance known' 1 , with its biosynthesis only recently having been elucidated . The landmark synthesis of this natural product by inspired decades of synthetic creativity, and the invention of many approaches to the Strychnos family . In addition to the structural challenges, these endeavours have also been inspired by potential biological applications, such as the identification of alstolucines B and F as candidates for resensitisation of taxanes in multidrug-resistant cancers . However, synthetic approaches that are sufficiently concise to produce useful quantities of natural product, but also sufficiently flexible to enable the 'collective' synthesis of multiple family members, are rare. Additional demands of 'synthesis ideality' , such as the avoidance of protecting groups and the minimisation of waste (i.e. atom economy) , whilst also achieving enantioselectivity, impose further challenges that limit the wider exploitation of the Strychnos alkaloids in biological settings. In this context, the six step racemic synthesis of strychnine by the Vanderwal group and the collective asymmetric synthesis of six indole alkaloids by MacMillan et al. (including a 12 step approach to strychnine) represent pioneering contributions, with recent elegant approaches also having been described by the Zhang and Snaddon 14 groups.