Indole derivatives reduction

Three new papers bearing on the structure of strychnine have become available too late for inclusion in this summary of recent work. Woodward, Brehm and Nelson have compared the ultra-violet absorption spectra of strychnine and Leuchs s strychnone (p.. 559) and used the results for a discussion of the relationship of the two alkaloids. Prelog and Kathriner have investigated the oxidation of strychnine, i/t-strychnine and brucine by permanganate in weakly acid solution and Bailey and Robinson from a study of the brucones have confirmed the conclusion of Woodward et al. that Leuchs s strychnone is a true indole derivative. Mention must also be made of a paper by Clemo and King on new reduction products of strychnine, of which a preliminary account has been published with a summary of the ensuing discussion. 

The Batcho-Leimgruber indole synthesis involves the condensation of o-nitrotoluene derivatives 1 with formamide acetals 2, followed by reduction of the trans-p-dimethylamino-2-nitrostyrene 3 which results to furnish indole derivatives represented by... 

R" = CH20H). The use of sodium borohydride in place of lithium aluminum hydride did not lead to ring closure but to 3-[j8-(A-l,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolyl)ethyl]indole derivatives (53). Reductive cyclization by means of lithium aluminum hydride of the j8-(3-indolyl)ethyl-l-isoquinoline (52) to the pentacyclic tetrahydro-j8-carboline 49 (R = R = R" = H) has been reported. Strong acid alone sufficed to convert 52 into 54, the 0x0 derivative of 49. ... 

Intramolecular McMurry olefmation was realized by Furstner et al., who achieved synthesis of indol derivatives with a catalytic amount of TiCls. They employed zinc metal as a reductant and Me3SiCl as a deoxygenating agent... 

Therefore better methods for the chiral reduction of indole-2-carboxylic acid derivatives would provide an elegant synthesis of this intermediate. A study by Kuwano and Kashiwabara of the reduction of indole derivatives into the corresponding indohnes found that a range of the more common ligand systems gave almost no enantioselectivity but the TRAP ligand gave the chiral indolines in up to 95 % ee for reduction of the methyl ester (B, R=Me, R =H). Further developments are awaited. 

Triple bonds are in general more reactive than double bonds as is exemplified in the following process (1.2.).13 The active catalyst is HPdOAc, which is formed by the oxidative addition of acetic acid onto Pd(0). The organic substrate is attached to the palladium in a regio- and stereospecific step that is followed by an oxidative addition (N.B. Pd(II)-Pd(IV) transition) and reductive elimination, or alternatively carbopalladation and reductive elimination, to give the indole derivative. 

Indole derivatives might also be prepared by the palladium catalysed reductive heteroannulation of o-nitrostyrene derivatives. The bicyclic olefin, shown in 3.75. was converted to the indole derivative in good yield.94 The reaction, which was run under forcing conditions utilises carbon monoxide as the reducing agent. 

The alkali metal borohydrides reduce aminochromes in solution very rapidly 70,109,120,147,148,1B1,1B5,157 the expected 5,6-dihydroxy-indole derivative was usually obtained in high yield.161,166 Reduction of the 7-iodoaminochromes was not usually accompanied by deio-dination to any appreciable extent.109,166 A number of relatively minor, unidentified, often fluorescent, water-soluble by-products were usually also detected in the reduction mixtures.109,148,155... 

Several examples of the cyclization of indole derivatives with alkenic side chains in the 3-position have been reported.6 In these examples, palladium chloride in combination with silver tetrafluoroborate is the cyclizing agent. The palladium tetrafluoroborate, presumably formed, should be a very reactive palladating species and probably is the reason why these reactions proceed at room temperature, although the mechanism is not yet completely clear. These reactions were worked up reductively (by addition of sodium borohydride) in order to reduce the expected alkenic product or any relatively stable organopalladium complexes that may have been formed (equation 4).6... 

One of the starting materials, the bromoindolinemesylate 183 was obtained from the commercially available 5-hydroxyindole by mesylation followed by successive treatment of the resulting indole derivative with sodium cyanoborohydride and bromine. Coupling of 183 with the known boronic acid 184 in the presence of zero valent palladium complex led directly to the lactam 185, the intermediate carbinolamine 186 formed initially in the reaction suffering facile aerial oxidation during work-up. On reduction with sodium (2-methoxyethoxy)aluminium-hydride, the amide 185 yielded the aminophenol 187 which on chromatography underwent oxidative aromatisation to 182 in 54% yield. 

The reduction of capuvosidine (191) to an indole derivative by means of sodium borohydride in methanol solution98c has now been reported,1126 and the product is indeed deoxycapuvosine (192) this completes the interconversion of the alkaloids of this group from Pandaca boiteaui and Capuronetta elegans. Further evidence in support of the 3 -ll attachment of the monomer units in these alkaloids has also been provided.1126... 

The electrochemical reduction of indole derivatives 4U-413) and tetrahydrocarbazole 413) has been carried out industrially. The reduction products have been required as dye intermediates. 

NHCH2), which exhibits a typical dihydroindole UV-spectrum, and which, in contrast to mitraphylline, couples with diazotized sulfanilic acid. The formation of a dihydroindole derivative, and not an indole derivative, in this reduction is an indication, though not perhaps a conclusive one, that the molecule is a 3,3-disubstituted oxindole hence, structure V is invalidated (57). 

Quite early in the chemical studies of Wieland and King, evidence accumulated that the calabash curare alkaloids are indole derivatives, and with present knowledge it is possible to correlate the UV-spectra of many of them with one or another of the following related chromo-phores formally derived from the indole nucleus by oxidation, reduction, and substitution, or combinations of these processes. They are the indoline (II), 2-hydroxyindoline and the derived ethers (III), iV-hydroxy-alkylindoline and its ethers (IV), 2-methyleneindoline or 1-vinylindoline (Va or Vb, respectively), indole (VI), oxindole or 1-acylindoline (Vila or Vllb, respectively), -indoxyl (VIII), and /J-carbolinium (IX) systems it is not possible to distinguish with certainty by spectroscopic methods between the chromophores III and IV, between Va and Vb, or between Vila and Vllb. 

Isatins have been used for the synthesis of fused indole derivatives. The reduction of l-methylisatin-3-oximes, by Zn in acidic media, leads to an acetamidooxindole, which upon reaction with P4S10 gives indolothiazoles in moderate to good yields (Scheme 36). 

Indole derivatives have been prepared by reaction of 2-bromoanilines with enamines in the presence of palladium(II) acetate127, reductive cyclization onto a nitro group128, or by the same type of cycloaddition that allows the synthesis of benzofuranols (see above) but using / -quinone diimides129. An example of an application of this latter method is the regioselective nucleophilic addition of 1-piperidino-l-propene (245) to the selectively activated AT4-(phenylsulfonyl)-p-quinone diimide 244 (equation 51)130. Fur-... 

---