Preliminary studies herein on modification of the core InC at C-3 position brought home to us that the most effective and efficient strategy for installation of the nitrofuran warhead should, at all costs, preclude the use of PGs, in particular, the troublesome carboxyl ester PGs. This effect was again reflected in modification of the core InC at C-7 position, and inasmuch as ester hydrolysis of NInC 35 was also failed, inarguably, no PGs for the carboxylate moiety, would indeed be the best strategy. As a result, the thus obtained unprotected InC 34 was reacted with 1 in a manner similar to that for 32 (Scheme 8); however, similar to 34, the desired NInC 37 was not observed in basic and neutral media (vide supra). To this end, the coupling of 36 to 1 was attempted in a mildly acidic medium featuring zinc chloride as a Lewis acid catalyst. Unfortunately, it was disappointing to see that even zinc chloride was incapable of accomplishing the desired NInC 37, as once did for 35 (Scheme 9).