Ketones reactions with indoles

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. 

Lithiated indoles can be alkylated with primary or allylic halides and they react with aldehydes and ketones by addition to give hydroxyalkyl derivatives. Table 10.1 gives some examples of such reactions. Entry 13 is an example of a reaction with ethylene oxide which introduces a 2-(2-hydroxyethyl) substituent. Entries 14 and 15 illustrate cases of addition to aromatic ketones in which dehydration occurs during the course of the reaction. It is likely that this process occurs through intramolecular transfer of the phenylsulfonyl group. 

Phenylsulfonyl)indole 330 was converted to a ketone by a set of standard reactions followed by the selenium dioxide oxidation of the resulting acetyl goup to the ketoaldehyde 332 (Scheme 101). Methylthiosemicarbazide hydroiodide reacted with 332 to the triazine 333 in 83% yield. As Diels-Alder reactions with 1 -pyrrolidinocyclohexene failed, 333 was first oxidized... 

Tetrahydrocarbazoles have been prepared in one-flask syntheses from indoles, ketones and maleic anhydride, with acid catalysis. The reactions involve a condensation of the indole 121 with the ketone or aldehyde, followed by in situ trapping of the vinylindole 122 with maleic anhydride to afford tetrahydrocarbazoles 123 after double bond isomerization <96T4555>. 

The classic and most convenient synthesis of the indole moiety is that of Emil Fischer. Recent examples of its use for drug synthesis includes one preparation of the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agent, indoxole (2). Reaction of ketone 1 with phenylhydrazine in acetic acid leads directly to indoxole (2). Alternately, anisoin (3) can be reacted... 

The occurrence of the indole subunit is well established within the class of natural products and pharmaceutically active compounds. Recently, the Reissig group developed an impressive procedure for the assembly of highly functionalized in-dolizidine derivatives, highlighting again the versatility of domino reactions [8]. The approach is based on a samarium(II) iodide-mediated radical cydization terminated by a subsequent alkylation which can be carried out in an intermolecular - as well as in an intramolecular - fashion. Reaction of ketone 3-11 with samarium(ll) iodide induced a 6-exo-trig cydization, furnishing a samarium enolate intermediate... 

Nitrone cycloaddition reactions with alkynes have been widely used for the synthesis of imidazolidine nitroxides (736) and (737), containing chelating enam-ino ketone groups (821). Different heterocyclic systems were obtained, such as 3-(2-oxygenated alkyl)piperazin-2-ones (738) (822), also compounds containing the isoxazolo[3,2-i]indole ring system (739) (823) and a new class of ene-hydroxylamino ketones- (l )-2-( 1-hydroxy-4,4,5,5-tetraalkylimidazolidin-2-ylidene)ethanones (740) (824) (Fig. 2.46). 

Somei and co-workers made extensive use of the Heck reaction with haloindoles in their synthetic approaches to ergot and other alkaloids [26, 40, 41, 240-249]. Thus, 4-bromo-l-carbomethoxyindole (69%) [26], 7-iodoindole (91%) (but not 7-iodoindoline or l-acetyl-7-iodoindoline) [40, 41], and l-acetyl-5-iodoindoline (96%) [41] underwent coupling with methyl acrylate under standard conditions (PdlOAc /PhsP/EtjN/DMF/100 °C) to give the corresponding (E)-indolylacrylates in the yields indicated. The Heck coupling of methyl acrylate with thallated indoles and indolines is productive in some cases [41, 241, 246]. For example, reaction of (3-formylindol-4-yl)thallium bis-trifluoroacetate (186) affords acrylate 219 in excellent yield [241], Similarly, this one-pot thallation-palladation operation from 3-formylindole and methyl vinyl ketone was used to synthesize 4-(3-formylindol-4-yl)-3-buten-2-one (86% yield). 

The vinyl triflate of Komfeld s ketone has been subjected to Heck reactions with methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, and methyl 3-(Af-rerf-butoxycarbonyl-lV-methyl)amino-2-methylenepropionate leading to a formal synthesis of lysergic acid [259]. A similar Heck reaction between l-(phenylsulfonyl)indol-5-yl triflate and dehydroalanine methyl ester was described by this research group [260]. Chloropyrazines undergo Heck couplings with both indole and 1-tosylindole, and these reactions are discussed in the pyrazine Chapter [261], Rajeswaran and Srinivasan described an interesting arylation of bromomethyl indole 229 with arenes [262]. Subsequent desulfurization and hydrolysis furnishes 2-arylmethylindoles 230. Bis-indole 231 was also prepared in this study. 

Thus, the unsubstituted starting compound 69 was treated with resorcinol in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) to yield 70. Then, reaction of 69 with the cyclic a,/3-unsaturated ketone in the presence of lithium hydride gave the 7-substituted heteroaromatic compound 71, and ethyl cyanoacetate afforded the cross-conjugated product 72, whereas reaction with pyrimidine-2,4,6-trione in the presence of triethylamine yielded the addition product 73. Indole also been reacted with 69, and heating of the dichloromethane solution for 90 min in the presence of TFA yielded the addition product 74 in excellent yield (95%) <1998ZOR450> (Scheme 12). 

The diketoindoles 777 were prepared in three steps starting from indol-3-ylacetic acid (680) and 5-chloro indol-3-ylacetic acid (774) in 75% and 66% overall yield, respectively. The indole acids 680 and 774 were converted into Weinreb amides 775, followed by reaction with ethyl Grignard reagent to afford the corresponding indol-3-yl ketones 776. In order to introduce the second carbonyl moiety, the 3-substituted... 

Most indoles are synthesized by the Fischer indolization reaction. Here a phenylhydrazine is first reacted with an aldehyde, or ketone, carrying an a-methylene group (not acetaldehyde). The corresponding hydrazone is then treated with an acid, often hydrochloric acid. Ring closure occurs, through a [3,3]-sigmatropic change, and ammonia (as the ammonium cation) is lost (Scheme 7.14). 

A series of cyclohept[l,2-A5,4-3 ]bisindole derivatives have been obtained by the reaction of l,2-bis(17/-indol-2-yl)-ethane 208 with carboxylic acids, orthoesters, aldehydes, or ketones under acid conditions (Equation 138 Table 17) <2000T1911>. In the case of the reaction with TEA, the major product is the fully conjugated derivative (Section 10.21.5.1.3). 

A rather more complex tertracyclic indole based compound lowers blood pressure by selective blockade of a 1-adrenergic receptors. Reaction of the anion from indole (72-1) with butyrolactone (72-2) leads to the scission of the carbon-oxygen bond in the reagent and the formation of the alkylated product (72-3). The acid is then cyclized onto the adjacent 2 position to give the ketone (72-4) by treatment with a Lewis acid such as polyphosphoric acid. Reaction with bromine then leads to the brominated ketone (72-5). This is subjected to reductive alkylation with ethylene... 

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