The first syntheses of tubastrine and 3-dehydroxy tubastrine are described. The target compounds were prepared in four consecutive steps from commercially available starting materials. The central scaffold was formed by a microwave-assisted C–N cross-coupling reaction between 1,3-bis(<i>tert</i>-butoxycarbonyl)-guanidine and (<i>E</i>)-((4-(2-iodovinyl)-1,2-phenylene)bis(oxy))bis(<i>tert</i>-butyl ...