Photochemistry of indoles

Although little has previously been known of the photochemistry of indoles, five reports of cycloadditions to indole have appeared this year (Giesler et al., inter alia). Intramolecular photoaddition of an alkene to an N-acylindole has been used in synthesis of the alkaloid vindorosine (36) (Winkler et al.). Irradiation of mesitylene... 

Topics which have formed the subjects of reviews this year include photoinduced organic synthesis, photoisomerisations involving super-cyclophanes, regioselec-tive and stereoselective [2+2] photocycloadditions, position- and stereoselective photocyclisation, the photochemistry of indoles, five-membered heterocyclic compounds of the indigo group, pyrazoles and isothiazoles, and heterocyclic N-oxides, photochromic reactions of naphthopyran derivatives, photodegradation reactions of photochromic spirooxazines and 2H-chromenes, ° and chiral photo-chromic compounds. ... 

Topics reviewed during the year include the photochemistry of indoles, sulfoxides, pyrazoles and isothiazoles, (S-hetero)cyclic unsaturated carbonyl compounds, photoinduced single electron transfer (SET) reactions of amines and of azo compounds, SET reactions of organosilanes and organostannanes with Qo and ketones, photochromic polypeptides and di(hetero)arylethenes, processes in chromophore sequences on a-helical polypeptides,aryl-aryl coupling in furans, thiophenes and pyrroles," [3+2]cycloaddition of aromatic nitriles (and esters) with alkenes, and reactions of benzylsilane derivatives. ... 

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