Indoles oxidative coupling

Recently, Fagnou reported a very interesting, atom-economical route to the 1,2,3-trisubstituted indole derivatives 273 via the Rh(II)-catalyzed oxidative coupling-indolization reaction (Scheme 9.95) [251]. Accordingly, simple acetanilides 271, upon a directed C-H activation with the Rh(II)-catalyst [252] followed by a subsequent carborhodation-indolization sequence of alkyne 272, gave N-acylated indoles 273. Both electron-rich and electron-deficient acetanilides 271, possessing different functionalities were perfectly tolerated under these reaction conditions. In the case of unsymmetrical alkyl-alkyl-substituted acetylenes, a mixture of indole products... 

Most of the early applications of palladium to indole chemistry involved oxidative coupling or cyclization using stoichiometric Pd(II). Akermark first reported the efficient oxidative coupling of diphenyl amines to carbazoles 37 with Pd(OAc)2 in refluxing acetic acid [45]. The reaction is applicable to several ring-substituted carbazoles (Br, Cl, OMe, Me, NO2), and 20 years later Akermark and colleagues made this reaction catalytic in the conversion of arylaminoquinones 38 to carbazole-l,4-quinones 39 [46]. This oxidative cyclization is particularly useful for the synthesis of benzocarbazole-6,11-quinones (e.g., 40). 

Srinivasan found that the typical stoichiometric Pd(OAc)2 conditions effect cyclization of 2-(N-arylaminomethyl)indoles to aryl-fused p-carbolines in low yield [e.g., 51 to 52] [73]. Similar to the chemistry observed with N-(phenylsulfonyl)pyrrole, 1,4-naphthoquinone also undergoes Pd(OAc)2 oxidative coupling with A-(phenylsulfonyl)indole to give 53 in 68% yield [74],... 

The reaction of //-protected dehydroalanine methyl esters (e.g. 56, 59) with other indoles 58 can also be effected to give the corresponding dehydrotryptophans 60, invariably as the Z-isomers [81]. Murakami, Yokoyama and co-workers also studied oxidative couplings of acrylates, acrylonitrile, and enones with 2-carboethoxyindole, 1-benzylindole, and l-benzyl-2-carboethoxyindole and PdCfe and CuCk or Cu(OAc) 2 to give C-3 substitution in 50-84% yields [82, 83]. 

In conclusion, the fantastically diverse chemistry of indole has been significantly enriched by palladium-catalyzed reactions. The accessibility of all of the possible halogenated indoles and several indolyl triflates has resulted in a wealth of synthetic applications as witnessed by the length of this chapter. In addition to the standard Pd-catalyzed reactions such as Negishi, Suzuki, Heck, Stille and Sonogashira, which have had great success in indole chemistry, oxidative coupling and cyclization are powerful routes to a variety of carbazoles, carbolines, indolocarbazoles, and other fused indoles. 

Electron donating a-substituents favour the non-Kolbe reaction but the radical intermediates in these anodic processes can be trapped during co-electrolysis with an alkanoic acid. Anodic decarboxylation of sugar uronic acids leads to formation of the radical which is very rapidly oxidised to a carbonium ion, stabilised by the adjacent ether group. However, in the presence of a tenfold excess of an alkanoic acid, the radical intermediate is trapped as the unsymmetrical coupling product [101]. Highly functionalised nucleotide derivatives such as 20 will couple successfully in the mixed Kolbe reaction [102], Other examples include the co-electrolysis of 3-oxa-alkanoic acids with an alkanoic acid [103] and the formation of 3-alkylindoles from indole-3-propanoic acid [104], Anodic oxidation of indole-3-propanoic acid alone gives no Kolbe dimer [105],... 

Oxidative homocoupling of aromatic and heteroaromatic rings proceeds with Pd(OAc)2 in AcOH. Biphenyl (165) is prepared by the oxidative coupling of benzene [104,105], The reaction is accelerated by the addition of perchloric acid. Biphenyl-tetracarboxylic acid (169), used for polyimide synthesis, is produced from dimethyl phthalate (168) commercially [106], Intramolecular coupling of the indole rings 170 is useful for the synthesis of staurosporine aglycone 171 [107]. 

Catechol melanin, a black pigment of plants, is a polymeric product formed by the oxidative polymerization of catechol. The formation route of catechol melanin (Eq. 5) is described as follows [33-37] At first, 3-(3, 4 -dihydroxyphe-nyl)-L-alanine (DOPA) is derived from tyrosine. It is oxidized to dopaquinone and forms dopachrome. 5,6-Dihydroxyindole is formed, accompanied by the elimination of C02. The oxidative coupling polymerization produces a melanin polymer whose primary structure contains 4,7-conjugated indole units, which exist as a three-dimensional irregular polymer similar to lignin. Multistep oxidation reactions and coupling reactions in the formation of catechol melanin are catalyzed by a copper enzyme such as tyrosinase. Tyrosinase is an oxidase con-... 

As part of an examination of an oxidative coupling of methyl 6-hydroxyindole-2-carboxylate with primary amines which enabled the development of a facile preparation of 2-substituted methyl pyrrolo[2,3-e]benzoxazole-5-carboxylates, the reaction of this indole with 1,2-diaminoethane and excess Mn02 gave compound (83) in an apparent intramolecular interception of a transient intermediate o-quinone monoimine (Equation (46)) <88JOC5163>. 

Kumar, A. and A.K. Jain (2001). Photophysics and photochemistry of colloidal CdS-Ti02 coupled semiconductors - photocatalytic oxidation of indole. Journal of Molecular Catalysis A-Chemical, 165(1-2), 265-273. 

The third method (31) utilized mercuric acetate as the agent which brought about oxidative coupling between the piperidine and the indole nucleus of compound XXXI. By-products and isomers are formed, but the fully hydrogenated (rings C and D) flavopereirine is accessible in practical yields. It can of course be dehydrogenated to flavopereirine. 

In a series of papers on the total syntheses of alkaloids, Baran and coworkers have recently reported that enolates of carbonyl compounds undergo oxidative coupling with indoles and pyrroles in the presence of oxidants such as copper(II) and iron(III) salts . A detailed study of the oxidative cyclization reported in equation 15 has shown that 26 is converted into 27 with the highest yields when Fe(acac)3 is the oxidant, presumably due to its high redox potential (+1.1 V vs. the ferrocenium/ferrocene couple in THF solution ), which is the most positive among all the oxidizing agents tested for the transformation. 

Although beyond the scope of this section, some related approaches to these compounds are worth mentioning. 2-Substituted pyridines and quinolines can be obtained in two steps from the parent compounds following nucleophilic attack by an aryllithium (e.g. 2-thienyllithium) and then oxidiation. Intramolecular oxidative coupling reactions between the 2-positions of two indole nuclei can be achieved using DDQ, in the presence of a trace of tosic acid. A very efficient route to a variety of unsymmetri-... 

Scheme 26 Alternative proposed catalytic cycle for oxidative coupling of indoles and aryl iodides (Gaunt and Beck)...

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