John SE, Bora D, Shankaraiah N. Ru(II)-Catalyzed regioselective carbene insertion into β-carbolines and isoquinolines.
Org Biomol Chem 2022;
20:5852-5860. [PMID:
35848450 DOI:
10.1039/d2ob00946c]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
A protocol for carbene insertion into the inert C(sp2)-H bond has been established wherein β-carbolines and isoquinolines are explored as intrinsic directing groups. The Ru(II)-catalyzed strategy employing sulfoxonium ylides as the carbene precursor offers an effective and atom-economical functionalization of substrates of biological interest with only DMSO as the sole by-product. The strategy is scalable to gram scale, and it also showcases a wide range of functional group tolerance. ESI-MS studies assisted in the identification of intermediates and consolidation of a probable mechanistic pathway. Furthermore, investigations revealed that the functionalized molecules not only displayed selective inhibition against cancer cell lines, but also demonstrated promising photophysical properties.
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