Indole Reissert

One route to o-nitrobenzyl ketones is by acylation of carbon nucleophiles by o-nitrophenylacetyl chloride. This reaction has been applied to such nucleophiles as diethyl malonatc[l], methyl acetoacetate[2], Meldrum s acid[3] and enamines[4]. The procedure given below for ethyl indole-2-acetate is a good example of this methodology. Acylation of u-nitrobenzyl anions, as illustrated by the reaction with diethyl oxalate in the classic Reissert procedure for preparing indolc-2-carboxylate esters[5], is another route to o-nitrobenzyl ketones. The o-nitrophenyl enamines generated in the first step of the Leimgruber-Batcho synthesis (see Section 2.1) are also potential substrates for C-acylation[6,7], Deformylation and reduction leads to 2-sub-stituted indoles. 

The Reissert procedure involves base-catalyzed condensation of an o-nitrotoluene derivative 1 with an ethyl oxalate (2) which is followed by reductive cyclization to an indole-2-carboxylic acid derivative 4, as illustrated below . ... 

In 1897, Reissert reported the synthesis of a variety of substituted indoles from o-nitrotoluene derivatives. Condensation of o-nitrotoluene (5) with diethyl oxalate (2) in the presense of sodium ethoxide afforded ethyl o-nitrophenylpyruvate (6). After hydrolysis of the ester, the free acid, o-nitrophenylpyruvic acid (7), was reduced with zinc in acetic acid to the intermediate, o-aminophenylpyruvic acid (8), which underwent cyclization with loss of water under the conditions of reduction to furnish the indole-2-carboxylic acid (9). When the indole-2-carboxylic acid (9) was heated above its melting point, carbon dioxide was evolved with concomitant formation of the indole (10). 

Butin et al. reported that the indole derivative 29 was prepared by treatment of 2-tosylaminobenzylfuran 25 with ethanolic HCl in 78% yield. The furan ring served as the origin of a carbonyl group in this modification of the Reissert procedure. ... 

The classic Reissert indole synthesis, involving the reducdve cyclization of o-ni-trophenylpymvic acid, has been used for synthesis of 2-ethoxycarbonyl-4-alkoxymethylindo-les The modified Reissert reacdon, involving the reducdve cyclizadon of an o-rdtrophenyl acetoaldehyde, has been adapted to solid-phase synthesis... 

The chemistry of Reissert compounds has been the subject of numerous general reviews (3-10). In 1973 Popp gave a summary on the use of Reissert compounds in the synthesis of isoquinoline alkaloids and related compounds (7). We now wish to summarize new results that have appeared from 1973 to the end of 1985 for the application of Reissert compounds in the synthesis of isoquinoline as well as indole alkaloids. 

The formation of a Reissert anion (intermediate of type 16) is usually the introductory step in a great number of synthetic routes leading to isoquinoline as well as indole alkaloids and related compounds. On the one hand, the alkylation of a Reissert anion with alkyl halide followed by alkaline hydrolysis is the most frequently used method for the synthesis of 1-alkyl- or 1-arylalkylisoquinolines (20) (Scheme 4). On the other hand, Reissert anions react with aldehydes to form... 

A reinvestigation of the experiments on the UV irradiation of l-acetyl-l,2-dihydroquinoline-2-carbonitriles (Reissert compounds) 561 unequivocally demonstrated that the rearrangement via the diradical intermediate 562 gave 4//-3,l-benzoxazines 563 and 565 rather than the benzazete derivatives described earlier. The yields and the type of products were strongly influenced by the substituent R at position 4 while irradiation of the unsubstituted quinoline 561 (R=H) gave 3,1-benzoxazine 563 in nearly quantitative yield, the amount of the corresponding methyl-substituted analog 565 that could be isolated was considerable lower, due to its irreversible isomerization via 562 to the stable cycloprop[/ ]indole derivative 564 (Scheme 107) <199811(49)121 >. 

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