Metathesis Reactions for the Synthesis of Ring-Fused Carbazoles

Ring closing metathesis for the construction of carbazole and indole-fused natural products

The synthesis and functionalization of carbazole ring systems have received considerable attention in organic synthesis due to their widespread occurrence in biologically active compounds. One of the classical methods for the synthesis of carbazoles involves C-C bond formation of a biaryl amine moiety by oxidizing agents. Over the last few years, various new strategies have evolved for the synthesis of carbazole ring systems. During the past two decades, ring-closing metathesis (RCM) based approaches have been efficiently employed for the synthesis of nitrogen containing heteroaromatic systems including carbazoles. Herein, we discuss the construction of carbazole ring systems using RCM and the application of RCM based methods in the preparation of other indole-fused heterocycles. The application of these methods in the synthesis of carbazole alkaloids and bioactive indole-fused natural products has been discussed to highlight the importance of RCM in total synthesis.

Metal-catalyzed annulation reactions for π-conjugated polycycles

The progress of the metal-catalyzed annulation reactions toward construction of various π-conjugated polycyclic cores with high conjugation extension is described. This article gives a brief overview of various annulation reactions promoted by metal catalysts including C-H bond functionalization, [2+2+2] cycloaddition, cascade processes, ring closing metathesis, electrophilic aromatization, and various cross-coupling reactions. A variety of conjugated polycycles with planar, bowl-shaped, and helical structures have been constructed in high efficiency and selectivity.

A novel and facile synthesis of 3-(2-benzofuroyl)- and 3,6-bis(2-benzofuroyl)carbazole derivatives

A facile synthesis of hitherto unreported 3-(2-benzofuroyl)carbazoles 3a-k, 3,6-bis(2-benzofuroyl)carbazoles 5a-k, and naphtho[2,1-b]furoylcarbazoles 3l and 5l is described. The synthesis mainly relies on the ultrasound-assisted Rap-Stoermer reaction of 3-chloroacetyl- (1) or 3,6-dichloroacetyl-9-ethyl-9H-carbazole (4) with various salicylaldehydes 2a-k as well as 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde (2l) in CH(3)CN with the presence of PEG-400 as catalyst. The procedure offers easy access to benzofuroylcarbazoles in short reaction times and the products are obtained in moderate to good yields.

6-Methyl-2,3,4,9-tetra-hydro-1H-carbazole-1-thione

In the title mol­ecule, C₁₃H₁₃NS, the dihedral angle between the benzene ring and the fused pyrrole ring is 0.71 (8)° and the cyclo­hexene ring is in an envelope form. The (CH₂)₃ atoms of the cyclo­hexene ring are disordered over two positions; the site-occupancy factor for the major component refined to 0.862 (4). In the crystal, inter­molecular N—H⋯S hydrogen bonds lead to the formation of centrosymmetric aggregates via an R₂²(10) ring.

1-(3-Bromo-2-thien-yl)ethanone

In the title compound, C(6)H(5)BrOS, the non-H and aromatic H atoms lie on a crystallographic mirror plane. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked into chains propagating along the c axis by inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

Synthesis of substituted benzenes and phenols by ring-closing olefin metathesis

New synthetic approaches to substituted aromatic compounds are reported. Ring-closing olefin metathesis (RCM)/dehydration and RCM/tautomerization are the key processes in the synthesis of substituted benzenes 3 and phenols 6, respectively. Readily accessible 1,5,7-trien-4-ols 7, which are the precursors of benzenes, were prepared from beta-halo-alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes 11 or beta-halo-alpha,beta-unsaturated esters 19 by utilizing reliable transformations in which cross-coupling with vinylic metal reagents 12 and allylation with allylic metal reagents 13 were employed as carbon-carbon bond forming reactions. RCM of 7, followed by dehydration, afforded a wide variety of substituted benzenes 3. In addition, RCM of 1,5,7-trien-4-ones 9, which were prepared by oxidation of 7, furnished various substituted phenols 6 by automatic tautomerization.

Ring-closing metathesis: novel routes to aromatic heterocycles

Olefin metathesis has been established as an important and general reaction in synthetic organic chemistry. Recently, it has attracted interest as a powerful tool for the construction of aromatic heterocycles. The importance of heteroaromatic motifs in medicinal chemistry and biology, as well as the efficiency and wealth of metathesis transformations, have resulted in significant success in this rapidly developing area.