Stereoselective Synthesis of Fused Spiroindolines via Tandem Mannich/Intramolecular Aminal Formation

Elemental sulfur accelerated the reactivity of the 3-position of indole for the construction of chromeno[2,3-b]indoles

Elemental sulfur not only acted as an additional oxidant but also facilitated the reactivity of the 3-position of indole to construct chromeno[2,3-b]indoles.

Ring-Fused Cyclic Aminals from Tetrahydro-β-carboline-Based Dipeptide Compounds

An acid- and oxidant-promoted intramolecular cyclization of a tetrahydro-β-carboline-based dipeptide has been developed to prepare new indole-fused aminoacetals. This approach involves N-acyliminium formation from readily available precursors and cyclization under mild reaction conditions. The diastereoselectivity in the formation of the products is influenced by the specific substituents of the starting reagents, which has been rationalized analyzing the energy profile of the related reactions and the relative stability of the proposed structures based on DFT computational methods.

Practical Synthesis of Chromeno[2,3-b]indole Skeleton via an Aldehyde Group Insertion/Aromatization Strategy

The synthesis of chromeno[2,3-b]indole from simple starting materials remains a demanding process. Herein, 2-bromoindole undergoes nucleophilic attack from salicylaldehyde, followed by intramolecular insertion of an aldehyde group and aromatization to generate the desired chromeno[2,3-b]indoles. Moreover, various functional groups were tolerated and a gram-scale synthesis of the product could be achieved under the optimized condition.

Nano ZrO2: an efficient, recyclable, and inexpensive catalyst for diastereoselective three-component Mannich reactions

A facile procedure is developed for the three-component Mannich reactions of several heterocyclic, homocyclic, and acyclic ketones by using catalytic quantities of nano ZrO2. As a result, the starting ketones undergo rapid reactions with a variety of aromatic aldehydes and aniline derivatives at room temperature to produce stereoselectively high yields of the corresponding anti β-amino ketones. Interestingly, the catalyst could be recycled for several runs in a row without significant loss of its activity. The structure of the products was assigned based on their spectroscopic data and the anti stereoselectivity was confirmed by X-ray crystallography.

Post-Ugi gold-catalyzed diastereoselective domino cyclization for the synthesis of diversely substituted spiroindolines

An Ugi four-component reaction of propargylamine with 3-formylindole and various acids and isonitriles produces adducts which are subjected to a cationic gold-catalyzed diastereoselective domino cyclization to furnish diversely substituted spiroindolines. All the reactions run via an exo-dig attack in the hydroarylation step followed by an intramolecular diastereoselective trapping of the imminium ion. The whole sequence is atom economic and the application of a multicomponent reaction assures diversity.