LETTER
Indole Synthesis
3009
(9) (a) Dai, W.-M.; Sun, L.-P.; Guo, D.-S. Tetrahedron Lett.
2002, 43, 7699. (b) Sun, L.-P.; Huang, X.-H.; Dai, W.-M.
Tetrahedron 2004, 60, 10983.
(10) Aqueous Bu4NOH has been used for the cyclization of a
2-alkynyl-N-Boc-aniline. See: Sendzik, M.; Hui, H. C.
Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44, 8697.
(11) (a) Fañanás, F. J.; Granados, A.; Sanz, R.; Ignacio, J. M.;
Barluenga, J. Chem. Eur. J. 2001, 7, 2896. (b) Barluenga,
J.; Fañanás, F. J.; Sanz, R.; Fernández, Y. Chem. Eur. J.
2002, 8, 2034. (c) Sanz, R.; Escribano, J.; Pedrosa, M. R.;
Aguado, R.; Arnáiz, F. J. Adv. Synth. Catal. 2007, 349, 713.
(d) Sanz, R.; Castroviejo, M. P.; Guilarte, V.; Pérez, A.;
Fañanás, F. J. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 5113.
case, shorter reaction times were required. As shown in
Scheme 1, highly functionalized indole derivatives 4a–c
were obtained in moderate to high yields from commer-
cially available starting materials 3a,d.
In summary, we have developed an efficient route to 2-
substituted indoles using a NaOH-mediated 5-endo-dig
cyclization of o-alkynylanilines as the key step. The reac-
tion can be performed from 2-iodoanilines and alkynes in
a one-pot process that involves an initial Sonogashira cou-
pling followed by the cyclization. This one-pot procedure
is compatible with the presence of several important func-
tional groups onto the benzenoid moiety, and also it does
work with N-unsubstituted anilines as well as with substi-
tuted ones. Moreover, an arylthio group can also be selec-
tively introduced at the C-3 position without isolation of
any intermediate. In addition, all the reactions can be car-
ried out under conventional heating or under microwave
irradiation with considerable reduction of reaction times.
(12) Microwave Assisted Organic Synthesis; Tierney, J. P.;
Lidström, P., Eds.; Blackwell: Oxford, 2005.
(13) Sonogashira, K.; Tohda, Y.; Hagihara, N. Tetrahedron Lett.
1975, 16, 4467.
(14) However, when this one-pot procedure was applied to
phenylacetylene, as terminal alkyne counterpart, 2-(2-
phenylethyl)aniline was generated along with the expected
indole derivative 2b. This side reaction due to hydrogenation
of intermediate 2-alkynylaniline 1b was easily avoided
using DMA instead of DMF. Under the reaction conditions
an ammonium formate derivative is probably generated,
which is known to act as a source of hydrogen. See, for
instance: Nacario, R.; Kotakonda, S.; Fouchard, D. M. D.;
Viranga Tillekeratne, L. M.; Hudson, R. A. Org. Lett. 2005,
7, 471.
(15) For some examples of Sonogashira reactions using
microwave heating, see: (a) Erdélyi, M.; Gogoll, A. J. Org.
Chem. 2001, 66, 4165. (b) Schramm, O. G.; Oeser, T.;
Kaiser, M.; Brun, R.; Müller, T. J. J. Synlett 2008, 359.
(16) The amount of 2.31 g of indole 2a (67% isolated yield) were
easily prepared in one batch from 4.38 g (20 mmol) of
2-iodoaniline 3a.
Acknowledgment
We thank Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and FEDER
(CTQ2007-61436/BQU) and Junta de Castilla y León (BU012A06)
for financial support. V.G. and M.P.C. thank Ministerio de Educa-
ción y Ciencia for MEC-FPU predoctoral fellowships. Many thanks
are due to Dr. F. Rodríguez (Universidad de Oviedo) for helpful
comments.
References and Notes
(1) (a) Indoles; Sundberg, R. J., Ed.; Academic Press: London,
1996. (b) Somei, M.; Yamada, F. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2005, 22,
73.
(2) For recent reviews, see: (a) Gribble, G. W. J. Chem. Soc.,
Perkin Trans. 1 2000, 1045. (b) Cacchi, S.; Fabrizi, G.
Chem. Rev. 2005, 105, 2873. (c) Humphrey, G. R.; Kuethe,
J. T. Chem. Rev. 2006, 106, 2875.
(3) For some recent examples, see: (a) Yin, Y.; Ma, W.; Chai,
Z.; Zhao, G. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 5731. (b)Kurisaki,T.;
Naniwa, T.; Yamamoto, H.; Imagawa, H.; Nishizawa, M.
Tetrahedron Lett. 2007, 48, 1871. (c) Zhang, Y.; Donahue,
J. P.; Li, C. J. Org. Lett. 2007, 9, 627. (d) Trost, B. M.;
Mc Clory, A. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 2074.
(4) (a) Sakamoto, T.; Kondo, Y.; Yamanaka, H. Heterocyles
1986, 24, 31. (b) Shin, K.; Ogasawara, K. Synlett 1995, 859.
(c) Kondo, Y.; Kojima, S.; Sakamoto, T. Heterocycles 1996,
43, 2741. (d) Shin, K.; Moriya, M.; Ogasawara, K.
Tetrahedron Lett. 1998, 39, 3765. (e) Wang, J.;
Soundarajan, N.; Liu, N.; Zimmermann, K.; Naidu, B. N.
Tetrahedron Lett. 2005, 46, 907.
(17) Typical Procedure for the One-Pot Synthesis of 2-
Substituted Indoles 2 from o-Iodoanilines 3 under
Conventional Heating – Synthesis of 2-Cyclohex-1-enyl-
1H-indole (2c; Table 3, Entry 5)
A mixture of 2-iodoaniline (3a, 219 mg, 1 mmol),
1-ethynylcyclohexene (159 mg, 1.5 mmol), PdCl2(PPh3)2
(21 mg, 0.03 mmol), CuI (9.5 mg, 0.05 mmol), and Et2NH
(110 mg, 1.5 mmol) in anhyd DMF (3 mL) was stirred under
N2 at r.t. for 1.5 h (the consumption of the starting material
was monitored by GC-MS). Then, DMF (2 mL) and freshly
powdered NaOH (400 mg, 10 mmol) were added to the
reaction mixture, and it was heated at 140 °C for 2 h (the end
of the cyclization was monitored by GC-MS). The reaction
was cooled to r.t. and then, CH2Cl2 (15 mL) and HCl aq
(20 mL of a 0.5M solution) were added. The separated
aqueous phase was extracted with CH2Cl2 (2 × 15 mL), and
the combined organic layers were washed with H2O
(3 × 50 mL). The organic phase was dried (Na2SO4) and
concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude product was
purified by column chromatography on SiO2 (hexane–
EtOAc, 10:1) to afford 2c (162 mg, 82%) as a white solid;
mp 137–139 °C (lit.20 mp 140–141 °C). 1H NMR (300 MHz,
CDCl3): d = 8.06 (br s, 1 H), 7.66 (d, J = 7.8 Hz, 1 H), 7.35
(dd, J = 7.8, 1.2 Hz, 1 H), 7.29–7.14 (m, 2 H), 6.53 (d,
J = 1.7 Hz, 1 H), 6.15–6.09 (m, 1 H), 2.57–2.48 (m, 2 H),
2.36–2.27 (m, 2 H), 1.92–1.82 (m, 2 H), 1.82–1.72 (m, 2 H).
13C NMR (75.4 MHz, CDCl3): d = 139.6 (C), 136.2 (C),
129.1 (C), 129.0 (C), 122.7 (CH), 122.0 (CH), 120.4 (CH),
119.8 (CH), 110.5 (CH), 98.7 (CH), 26.1 (CH2), 25.6 (CH2),
22.6 (CH2), 22.3 (CH2). LRMS (EI): m/z (%) = 197 (100)
[M+], 182 (13), 168 (58), 130 (33). HRMS: m/z calcd for
C14H15N: 197.1204; found: 197.1199.
(5) Kondo, Y.; Kojima, S.; Sakamoto, T. J. Org. Chem. 1997,
62, 6507.
(6) (a) Rodríguez, A. L.; Koradin, C.; Dohle, W.; Knochel, P.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2000, 39, 2488. (b) Koradin, C.;
Dohle, W.; Rodríguez, A. L.; Schmid, B.; Knochel, P.
Tetrahedron 2003, 59, 1571. (c) Stoll, A. H.; Knochel, P.
Org. Lett. 2008, 10, 113.
(7) McLaughlin, M.; Palucki, M.; Davies, I. W. Org. Lett. 2006,
8, 3306.
(8) Fiandanese, V.; Bottalico, D.; Marchese, G.; Punzi, A.
Tetrahedron 2008, 64, 53.
Synlett 2008, No. 19, 3006–3010 © Thieme Stuttgart · New York