Indoles from cyclization

A two-step synthesis of indoles from o-nitrobenzaldehydes proceeds by condensation with nitromcthanc followed by reductive cyclization. Like the Leim-gruber Batcho method, the principal application of the reaction is to indoles with only carbocyclic substituents. The forniation of the o,p-dinitrostyrenes is usually done under classical Henry condensation conditions but KF/18-crown-6 in propanol was found to be an advantageous reaction medium for acetoxy-substituted compounds[1]. The o,p-dinitrostyrenes can also be obtained by nitration of p-nitrostyrenes[2]. 

The final step can involve introduction of the amino group or of the carbonyl group. o-Nitrobenzyl aldehydes and ketones are useful intermediates which undergo cyclization and aromatization upon reduction. The carbonyl group can also be introduced by oxidation of alcohols or alkenes or by ozonolysis. There are also examples of preparing indoles from o-aminophcnyl-acetonitriles by partial reduction of the cyano group. 

The issue of regioselectivity arises with arylhydrazones of unsymmetrical ketones which can form two different enehydrazine intermediates. Under the conditions used most commonly for Fischer cyclizations, e g. ethanolic HCI, the major product is usually the one arising from the more highly substituted enehydrazine. Thus methyl ketones usually give 2-methy indoles and cycliz-ation occurs in a branched chain in preference to a straight chain. This regioselectivity is attributed to the greater stability of the more substituted enhydrazine and its dominance of the reaction path. 

Many aryhydrazones provide two or more isomers when subjected to the conditions of the Fischer indole cyclization. The product ratio and the direction of indolization can also be affected by different reaction conditions (i.e. catalysts and solvents), which is attributed, at least in part, to the relative stabilities of the two possible tautomeric ene-hydrazine intermediates. Generally, strongly acidic conditions favor formation of the least substituted ene-hydrazine, while cyclization carried out in weak acids favors the most substituted ene-hydrazine. Eaton s acid (10% P2O5 in MeSOsH) has been demonstrated to be an effective catalyst for the preparation of 3-unsubstituted indoles from methyl ketones under strongly acidic conditions. Many comprehensive reviews on this topic have appeared. ... 

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). 

A few additional Pd-catalyzed schemes have been employed for Ilac type cyclization chemistry. Palladium-phenanthroline complexes were used by the Ragaini group to prepare indoles via the intermolecular cyclization of nitroarenes and alkynes in the presence of carbon monoxide <06JOC3748>. Jia and Zhu employed Pd-catalysis for the annulation of o-haloanilines with aldehydes <06JOC7826>. A one-pot Ugi/Heck reaction was employed in the preparation of polysubstituted indoles from a four-component reaction system of acrylic aldehydes, bromoanilines, acids, and isocyanides <06TL4683>. 

Full -polarization in diradicals can give rise to zwitterionic products. First examples were studied in detail by Carpenter and coworker who investigated solvent effects on rates and product distribution in Myers-Saito cyclizations.64 Polar solvents and substitution patterns that stabilize either positive or negative charges (or both) favor the zwitterionic products. For example, the presence of a dimethylamino group leads to stabilization of cations and isolation of pyrrolo-quinolines, rather than pyrido-indoles from eneyne-carbodiimides, as reported by Wang and coworkers (Scheme 14).65... 

Because substituted anilines are widely available, they are ideal starting materials for the synthesis of indoles. Although anilines are often the precursors of the hydrazones used in the Fischer cyclization, more direct methods for conversion of anilines to indoles would be highly desirable. Such a process would, in general, have to involve some method for specific o -substitution of the aniline derivative. In the most successful method of this type which has been developed to date, a specific rearrangement effecting o-substitution is the key to a synthetic scheme which constructs indoles from anilines via anilinosulfonium ions. The procedure, which in appropriate circumstances can be carried out without isolation of the intermediates, involves oxidation of the aniline to an A-chloroaniline, reaction with a thiomethylmethyl ketone and a weak base, followed by cyclizative condensation (equation... 

Carbanions derived from side chain tertiary amides have also been cyclized to provide isoquinolones and isoindoles (equation 36).125 126 While benzyne intermediacy in the formation of the former is likely, the latter seems to arise through a SrnI reaction pathway. Synthesis of indole from the meta bromo compound (87), on the other hand, clearly involves an aryne cyclization. 27 A more versatile route to indoles is based on intramolecular addition of aminyl anions to arynes (equation 38).128 A somewhat similar dihydroindole preparation constitutes the first step in a synthesis of lycoranes (equation 39).129 The synthesis of (88) also falls in the same category of reactions, but it is noteworthy because only a few examples of ring closure of heteroarynes are mentioned in literature.27 28... 

Syntheses of 2-substituted indoles from (2-aminobenzyl)triphenylphosphonium salts have been achieved either by cyclization with carboxylic acid anhydrides in the presence of triethylamine, or acyl chlorides in 2,6-lutidine <02TL2885>. In a related study, the acylated indoles 65 have been prepared from the phosphonium salts 66 in a process involving extrusion of a one-carbon fragment. A mechanistic rationale for these findings was also provided by the authors <02TL8893>. 

The structure of harman (II R = H) has been discussed already in connection with that of harmaline. Many additional syntheses of it and of its tetrahydro derivative have been recorded (39-44). Owing to the extremely active 2-position in the indole nucleus, cyclizations which yield quinolines from /3-phenethylamines proceed with greater ease from tryptamines, often yielding the tetrahydro bases under so-called physiological conditions (43, 44). A novel synthesis of harman depends upon... 

Alkyl radicals 968, generated on the 1-A -alkyl group of 2-(phenylsulfanyl)indole from the corresponding A -alkyl bromides 965 by the action of Ph3SnH/AIBN (reflux 6h in benzene under Ar), triphenyltincobaloxime (Ar, DMF, 130 °C, 24 h) or by the photolysis (350 nm, benzene, 24 h, Ar) of the corresponding A -alkylcobaloxime, transform into a reduction product 966 and a cyclization product 969 (Scheme 187) <1997J(P1)3591>. Reaction modes differ little... 

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