Protection of indoles

The ureide, which is stable to BuLi, was used for the protection of indole. It is cleaved with 25% NaOH in EtOH, reflux. ... 

Another, very nseful, in situ protection of indoles and pyrroles, involves deprotonation of the nitrogen then addition of carbon dioxide to give the lithinm iV-carboxylate salt." ... 

Synthesis of camptothecin (163) is another example[133]. The iboga alkaloid analog 164 has been synthesized smoothly by the intramolecular coupling of iodoindole and unsaturated ester to form an eight-membered ring. Af-Methyl protection of the indole is important for a smooth reaction[134]. An efficient construction of the multifunctionalized skeleton 165 of congeners of FR900482 has been achieved[135]. 

The Suzuki coupling of arylboronic acids and aryl halides has proven to be a useful method for preparing C-aryl indoles. The indole can be used either as the halide component or as the boronic acid. 6-Bromo and 7-bromoindolc were coupled with arylboronic acids using Pd(PPh3)4[5]. No protection of the indole NH was necessary. 4-Thallated indoles couple with aryl and vinyl boronic acides in the presence of Pd(OAc)j[6]. Stille coupling between an aryl stannane and a haloindole is another option (Entry 5, Table 14.3). 

Sulfonamides (R2NSO2R ) are prepared from an amine and sulfonyl chloride in the presence of pyridine or aqueous base. The sulfonamide is one of the most stable nitrogen protective groups. Arylsulfonamides are stable to alkaline hydrolysis, and to catalytic reduction they are cleaved by Na/NH3, Na/butanol, sodium naphthalenide, or sodium anthracenide, and by refluxing in acid (48% HBr/cat. phenol). Sulfonamides of less basic amines such as pyrroles and indoles are much easier to cleave than are those of the more basic alkyl amines. In fact, sulfonamides of the less basic amines (pyrroles, indoles, and imidazoles) can be cleaved by basic hydrolysis, which is almost impossible for the alkyl amines. Because of the inherent differences between the aromatic — NH group and simple aliphatic amines, the protection of these compounds (pyrroles, indoles, and imidazoles) will be described in a separate section. One appealing proj>erty of sulfonamides is that the derivatives are more crystalline than amides or carbamates. 

Two new sections on the protection for indoles, imidazoles, and pyrroles, and protection for the amide — NH are included. They are separated from the regular amines because their chemical properties are sufficienth different to affect the chemistry of protection and deprotection. The Reactivity Charts in Chapter 8 are identical to those in the first edition. The chart number appears beside the name of each protective group when it is first discussed. 

A trifluoromethylsulfonamide can be prepared from a primary amine to allow monoalkylation of that amine. The triflamide is not stable to strong base, which causes elimination to an imine, but when used to protect an indole, it is cleaved with K2CO3 in refluxing methanol. ... 

DEM protection of an indole is also effective (46-82% yield), and cleavage occurs efficiently with 2 A HCl (EtOH, rt, 0.5 h, 86-93% yield). ... 

An indole protected by a Mannich reaction with formaldehyde and dimethyl-amine is stable to lithiation. The protective group is removed with NaBH4 (EtOH, THE, reflux). The related piperidine analogue has been used similarly for the protection of a triazole. ... 

LY311727 is an indole acetic acid based selective inhibitor of human non-pancreatic secretory phospholipase A2 (hnpsPLA2) under development by Lilly as a potential treatment for sepsis. The synthesis of LY311727 involved a Nenitzescu indolization reaction as a key step. The Nenitzescu condensation of quinone 4 with the p-aminoacrylate 39 was carried out in CH3NO2 to provide the desired 5-hydroxylindole 40 in 83% yield. Protection of the 5-hydroxyl moiety in indole 40 was accomplished in H2O under phase transfer conditions in 80% yield. Lithium aluminum hydride mediated reduction of the ester functional group in 41 provided the alcohol 42 in 78% yield. 

Preparation of bromoindoles by replacement of metallic substituents have included oxidation of indolylmagnesium bromide by p-nitrobenzoic acid to give 3-bromoindole (67BSF1294), thallation procedures (illustrated in Scheme 18 also applied to the synthesis of chloroindoles) [85H(23)3113 86H(24)3065 87CPB3146, 87H(26)2817 89H(29)1163], and the use of lithium derivatives. The thallation reactions provide access particularly to 4- and 7-bromoindoles. Quenching the protected 2-lithium derivative of indole with 1,2-dibromotetrachloroethane gave an 87% yield of 2-bromoindole (92JOC2495). 

C-TMS protection of the alkyne provided acceptable yields of 3-substituted indole as long as the hydroxy group was protected with a stable group. Purple colored impurities, one of which has been identified as azulene 45, were seen in both coupling reactions using C-TMS-alkynes such as 36 and 40d (Scheme 4.9). The azulene was presumably formed through the dimerization of acetylenes... 

Alkylation at nitrogen has been achieved by treating indole or pyrrole with alkyl halides in ionic solutions of potassium carbonate in l- -butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [bmim][BFJ <06TL2435>. Bis-protection of 3,3 -diiodo-2,2 -biindoles with Me, Boc, C02Et, or S02Ph has been described by Roy and Gribble <06SC3487>. 

More recently, Somfai and coworkers have reported on the efficient coupling of a set of carboxylic acids suitable as potential scaffolds for peptide synthesis to a polymer-bound hydrazide linker [24]. Indole-like scaffolds were selected for this small library synthesis as these structures are found in numerous natural products showing interesting activities. The best results were obtained using 2-(7-aza-l H-benzo-triazol-l-yl)-l,l,3,3-tetramethyluronium hexafluoride (HATU) and N,N-diisopropyl-ethylamine (DIEA) in N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent. Heating the reaction mixtures at 180 °C for 10 min furnished the desired products in high yields (Scheme 7.4). In this application, no Fmoc protection of the indole nitrogen is required. 

Yoshino reports a novel and general method for the C-3 acylation of indoles with acyl chlorides in the presence of dialkylaluminium chloride which obviates the need for prior N-protection . Interestingly, as described in this preliminary communication, the unprotected indoles 147 are first treated with the Lewis acids prior to addition of the acid chlorides, yielding the desired 3-acyl derivatives 148. In reactions more typical of indoles under acidic conditions, Nakatsuka determined the structures of the dimers and trimers of 1-trimethylacetylindole produced in the presence of aluminium chloride . 

Early syntheses of haloindoles involved direct reactions of indoles with chlorine, bromine, or iodine. In some cases, this approach was reasonably successful, but the instability of the resulting 3-haloindoles made product isolation and further chemistry difficult. For example, although attempted preparations of 3-chloro-, 3-bromo-, and 3-iodoindole were described in the early 1900 s [2], only recently have practical syntheses of these compounds and their N-protected derivatives become available. For example, 3-bromoindole (2) can be prepared in... 

An excellent synthesis of 5-bromo- (18) and 5-iodoindole (19) involves protecting the indole double bond as sulfonate 16, acetylation to 17, and halogenation [27]. Indoline itself undergoes bromination at C-4 and C-7 [28]. 

Gronowitz adapted this technology to one-pot syntheses of indole-3-acetic acids and indole-3-pyruvic acid oxime ethers from A-BOC protected o-iodoanilines [328, 329]. Rawal employed the Pd-catalyzed cyclization of A-(o-bromoallyl)anilines to afford 4- and 6-hydroxyindoles, and a 4,6-dihydroxyindole [330], and Yang and co-workers have used a similar cyclization to prepare 8-carbolines 287 and 288 as illustrated by the two examples shown [331]. The apparent extraneous methyl group in 288 is derived from triethylamine. 

Both vinyl- and aryl triflates have been cross-coupled with 2-furylzinc chloride [26-28]. Since vinyl triflates are easily obtained from the corresponding ketones, they are useful substrates in Pd-catalyzed reactions. In the following example, a Negishi coupling of 2-furylzinc chloride and indol-5-yl triflate (22) provided an expeditious entry to 2-(5 -indolyl)furan (23). Protection of the NH in the indole ring was not required. A similar reaction was successful with pyridyl- and quinolinyl triflates. 

TV-Acyl indoles derived from amides have been employed for the conversion of lactones into protected hydroxyacids. Thus, (chloromethyl)alumi-num 2-(2-propenyl)anilide reacts (120) with 1,4- and 1,5-lactones, as for example per-O-terZ-butyldimethylsilyl-D-ribono-1,4-lactone (104), to afford hydroxyamides. After protection of the free hydroxyl group, these amides were converted by ozonolysis into TV-acyl indoles, 105, which were readily saponified to the acid 106. 

---