The structure proposed for the putative Stemona alkaloid named as parvistemoamide (4 a or 4 b) has been questioned after revising the literature data and an attempted preparation of structure 4 a, which led to a 5 : 1 mixture of (+/-)-stemoamide (1). Studies on the intramolecular Friedel-Crafts alkylation of a furan 12 containing a Z double bond tethered to a precursor of a N-acyliminium ion are reported. As shown for bromo substituted furan 31, the cyclization occurred when a 4-carbon saturated tether was present, allowing for the formal syntheses of racemic tuberostemospiroline (2) and stemona-lactam R (3).