Citations

Reference from Paper 2:
Smith, N.D.; Hayashida, J.; Rawal, V. H. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 4309–4312.

Background:

Smith, et. al. group is the first to synthesize part of Haoumine A for anti-cancer purposes.  They found that Haoumine A is more potent than Haouamine B as an antitumor reagent, and this was why they chose to focus on Haouamine A for synthesis. They successfully synthesized the above tricyclic indeno-tetrahydropyridine portion of Haouamine A, which contains five of the seven rings of the full product.

A Novel and Green Method for the Synthesis of Indeno[2,1-c]pyridine
Derivatives in Ionic Liquid Catalyzed by Malononitrile

Wang, X.; Wu, J.; Li, Q.; Yao, C.; Tu, S. Synlett 2008, 2008, 1185-1188.

Smith et. al. attempted to create an indenopyridine derivative, and this group has found a way to make this a cleaner synthesis.  This was done by using ionic liquids, including 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium, and 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium.  Ionic liquids are recyclable and have a low vapor pressure, unlike other organic solvents.  The group reacted benzaldehyde, malonodinitrile, and 2-(2,3-dihydroinden-3-ylidene)malononitrile in
ionic liquid at 90 °C, and it produced 1-aryl-9H-indeno[2,1-c]pyridine-4-carbonitrile, which is an indenopyridine derivative.  Malonitrile was a catalyst in the reaction. 
Synthesis of the 3-Aza-[7]-paracyclophane Core of Haouamine A and B
Wipf, P.; Furegati, M. Org. Lett. 2006, 8, 1901–1904.

This group is trying to synthesize the highly strained 3-aza-[7]-paracyclophane portion of haouamines A and B, as shown in the illustration above (taken from paper).  Smith, Hayashida, and Rawal left this structure for the end of the synthesis, and another group constructed the ring in using a Diels-Alder mechanism.  Wipf and Furegati combined both their approaches to synthesize the above portion of haouamines A and B. 
Formal Total Synthesis of the Cytotoxic Marine Ascidian Alkaloid Haouamine A
Jeong, J.; Weinreb, S. Org. Lett. 2006, 8, 2309–2312.

Jeong and Weinreb created a different approach to the synthesis of the tricyclic indeno-tetrahydropyridine portion of Haouamine A, which is what Smith, Hayashida, and Rawal focused on, but Jeong and Weinreb used it as an intermediate to the total synthesis of Haouamine A.  They used an intramolecular nitrone/olefin dipolar cycloaddition to synthesize the indenopyridine portion of haouamine A.  To create the intermediate for the cycloaddition, they used a Grignard reaction with lactone to make an alcohol, which they protected with silyl ether.