Oxindole tautomerism

In contrast with the hydroxy compounds, comparatively little is known of the tautomeric preferences of pyrrole- and indole-thiols. The compounds are readily oxidized to form the bis-heteroaryldisulfides and the available spectral data for the monomeric systems suggest that, in contrast with the oxygen analogues, the 2-pyrrole- and 3-indole-thiols exist predominantly as such, whereas the sulfur analogue of oxindole is the predominant tautomer for the 2-indolyl system <63AHC(2)1,76AHC(SuppI. 1)214). 

The chlorosulfonium compounds can also be used for the synthesis of oxindoles, the stable tautomeric form of 2-hydroxyindoles. The a -methylthio ketone is replaced by ethyl methylthioacetate and the products of the Sommelet-Hauser rearrangement are cyclized to 3-methylthiooxindoles. The methylthiooxindoles are reductively desulfurized with Raney nickel (equation 102) (74JA5508). 

The C-2 and C-3 hydroxy derivatives of pyrrole are special in the sense that the tautomeric equilibria favor the pyrrolinone structures (see Section 3.04.6.2). Furthermore, the general synthetic methods are not usually applicable so that we will call attention in this section not only to the methods of directly introducing these substituents, which are rare, but also to those ring construction processes which specifically give the pyrrolinones and indolinones. The indole derivatives have widely used trivial names, oxindole (5) for indolin-2-one and indoxyl (6) for indolin-3-one, Carbocyclic hydroxy substituents in indole and carbazole, on the other hand, for the most part act as normal aromatic phenolic groups. These compounds are usually prepared by application of the standard ring syntheses. 

In the benzo[A] and benzol/] heterocycles 220 and 221, where the loss of ring resonance energy on tautomerism is much less than in the nonannulated heterocycles 217, the oxo tautomers 222 and 223 are energetically preferred. 2-Hydroxyindole 220 (X = NH) exists exclusively as the oxo tautomer 222 (X = NH) (oxindole). The hydroxy form of 2-hydroxybenzo[A]thiophene 220 (X = S) is detectable by NMR spectroscopy when its trimethylsilyl ether precursor is... 

Now oxindole by reduction with zinc dust yields indole which must therefore have the constitution as given below. Oxindole is the ketone of a di-hydrogenated indole, or it may be considered as the tautomeric compound, i.e., a mono-hydroxy indole. 

Hydroxyindole certainly contribntes in the tautomeric equilibrium with the carbonyl form, though it is the minor component. Indoxyl, 10.46, ° is more acidic than oxindole, the anion produced is ambident reactions with electrophiles at both oxygen and carbon are known. ... 

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