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ChemComm
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COMMUNICATION
Journal Name
R
There are no conflicts to declare.
R
[Au]+
DOI: 10.1039/D0CC06490D
R
[Au]
Ms
Ms
N
Bn
N
R'
R'
Bn
Ms
N
N
H
NH2
Bn
2
1
I
[Au]+
Notes and references
4
R
R
1
2
3
(a) J. Landwehr, S. George, E.-M. Karg, D. Poeckel, D.
Cu(0)
R'
Ms
N
Bn
Ms
Ms
Steinhilber, R. Troschuetz, and O. Werz, J. Med. Chem., 2006,
49, 4327; (b) M. Tichy, R. Pohl, H. Y. Xu, Y. L. Chen, F.
Yokokawa, P. Y. Shi, and M. Hocek, Bioorg. Med. Chem.,
2012, 20, 6123.
R'
N
N
N
3aa
(e.g.,
)
Bn
3
Cu
R
N
V
R'
Ms
CuCl2
N
HCl
R
N
Bn
HCl
IV
R'
Cl
R
N
Selected reviews: (a) G. Evano, A. Coste, and K. Jouvin,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2010, 49, 2840; (b) K. A. DeKorver, H.
Li, A. G. Lohse, R. Hayashi, Z. Lu, Y. Zhang, and R. P. Hsung,
Chem. Rev., 2010, 110, 5064; (c) R. H. Dodd, and K. Cariou,
Chem. Eur. J., 2018, 24, 2297.
(a) B. Witulski, C. Alayrac, and L. Tevzadze-Saeftel, Angew.
Chem. Int. Ed., 2003, 42, 4257; (b) C. Shu, Y.-H. Wang, B.
Zhou, X.-L. Li, Y.-F. Ping, X. Lu, and L.-W. Ye, J. Am. Chem.
Soc., 2015, 137, 9567; (c) M.-H. Tsai, C.-Y. Wang, A. S. K. Raj,
and R.-S. Liu, Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 10866; (d) X. Tian, L.
Song, M. Rudolph, F. Rominger, and A. S. K. Hashmi, Org.
Lett., 2019, 21, 4327.
(a) P.-Y. Yao, Y. Zhang, and R. P. Hsung, K. Zhao, Org. Lett.,
2008, 10, 4275; (b) K. Dooleweerdt, T. Ruhland, and T.
Skrydstrup, Org. Lett., 2009, 11, 221; (c) S. E. Kiruthika, and
P. T. Perumal, Org. Lett., 2014, 16, 484.
(a) S. Kramer, K. Dooleweerdt, A. T. Lindhardt, M. Rottländer,
and T. Skrydstrup, Org. Lett., 2009, 11, 4208; (b) D. Liu, Q.
Nie, R. Zhang, and M. Cai, Adv. Synth. Catal., 2018, 360,
3940.
N
H
R'
path b
Cl
Ms
Bn
N
Cu
R
3'
CuCl2
path a
Bn
R'
III
HCl
Ms
N
N
Cu(0)
Bn
II
Cl
Ph
Cl
Ph
N
Cl
Ph
R1
O
O
2b
or
2d
hydrolysis
R1
Ph
Ph
Cl
R1
R1
Ph
1a
+
+
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
H
H
H
Me
Cl
Me
Me
Me
(R1 = Ms, Ts)
III-1
III-2
III-3
D
E
Scheme 4 Proposed mechanism.
annulation step, a plausible mechanism for this one-pot
reaction is proposed as outlined in Scheme 4. By analogy with
mechanisms established for related Au(I)-catalyzed
hydroamination of ynamides with anilines,5,
4
5
11
amidine
intermediate 3 is formed by the reaction of 1 and 2. 3′ resulting
from tautomerization of 3 undergoes electrophilic attack by
CuCl2 to provide II with loss of HCl. Reductive elimination
followed by intramolecular nucleophilic attack by the ortho
carbon of the aniline moiety to the chlorinated αC atom of
intermediate III leads to the formation of V (path a). Subsequent
isomerization of V produces the final product 4. Alternatively,
IV could be formed through nucleophilic attack of the ortho
carbon of the aniline moiety of II to Cu,8a-b,e which is promoted
by the electron-donating effect of the amide (-NMsBn) group
(path b). The indole product 4 is generated by reductive
elimination followed by isomerization of the resulting V. In the
case of reactions with ynamides 2b and 2d, formation of α-
chlorinated amides D and E was observed,10 which might form
via hydrolysis of the tautomers III-1 and III-3, respectively.
These findings suggest that this reaction more likely proceeds
through path a, involving intermediate III.
In summary, we have developed a highly efficient and facile
one-pot reaction for the synthesis of diversely substituted 2-
aminoindoles from anilines and ynamides. In this one-pot
sequential process, the two metal salts, Au(I) and CuCl2, operate
in two distinct reactions in series. To the best of our knowledge,
this represents the first example using simple anilines as a N1
source for the pyrrole nucleus of indoles, offering new and
straightforward access to synthetically valuable 2-
aminoindoles.
6
7
J. Cao, Y. Xu, Y. Kong, Y. Cui, Z. Hu, G. Wang, Y. Deng, and G.
Lai, Org. Lett., 2012, 14, 38.
(a) H. Jin, L. Huang, J. Xie, M. Rudolph, F. Rominger, and A. S.
K. Hashmi, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 794; (b) D.
Allegue, J. González, S. Fernández, J. Santamarıá, and A.
Ballesteros, Adv. Synth. Catal., 2019, 361, 758; (c) W. Xu, Y.
Chen, A. Wang, and Y. Liu, Org. Lett., 2019, 21, 7613; (d) C.
Zhu, L. Kou, and X. Bao, Chin. J. Chem., 2020, 38, 57; (e) X.
Tian, L. Song, K. Farshadfar, M. Rudolph, F. Rominger, T.
Oeser, A. Ariafard, and A. S. K. Hashmi, Angew. Chem. Int.
Ed., 2020, 59, 471; (f) X. Tian, L. Song, M. Rudolph, F.
Rominger, T. Oeser, and A. S. K. Hashmi, Angew. Chem. Int.
Ed., 2019, 58, 3589. Related intramolecular reactions: (g) W.-
B. Shen, Q. Sun, L. Li, X. Liu, B. Zhou, J.-Z. Yan, X. Lu, and L.-
W. Ye, Nat. Commun., 2017, 8, 1748.
(a) S. Würtz, S. Rakshit, J. J. Neumann, T. Dröge, and F.
Glorius, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2008, 47, 7230; (b) R. Bernini,
G. Fabrizi, A. Sferrazza, and S. Cacchi, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,
2009, 48, 8078; (c) Z.-H. Guan, Z.-Y. Yan, Z.-H. Ren, X.-Y. Liu,
and Y.-M. Liang, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 2823; (d) W. Yu,
Y. Du, and K. Zhao, Org. Lett., 2009, 11, 2417; (e) Y. Wei, I.
Deb, and N. Yoshikai, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134, 9098.
(a) S. W. Youn, and E. M. Lee, Org. Lett., 2016, 18, 5728; (b)
S. W. Youn, and Y. H. Kim, Org. Lett., 2016, 18, 6140; (c) S. W.
Youn, T. Y. Ko, and Y. H. Jang, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2017,
56, 6636; (d) S. W. Youn, and H. J. Yoo, Adv. Synth. Catal.,
2017, 359, 2176; (e) S. W. Youn, T. Y. Ko, Y. H. Kim, and Y. A.
Kim, Org. Lett., 2018, 20, 7869; (f) S. W. Youn, H. J. Yoo, E. M.
Lee, and S. Y. Lee, Adv. Synth. Catal., 2018, 360, 278; (g) H. J.
Yoo, and S. W. Youn, Org. Lett., 2019, 21, 3422.
8
9
This work was supported by both the Basic Science Research
Program and Nano·Material Technology Department Program
through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)
funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (Nos.
2012M3A7B4049644, 2018R1A2A2A05018392, and 2014-
011165).
10 For details, see the Supporting Information.
11 (a) X. Zhao, X. Song, H. Jin, Z. Zeng, Q. Wang, M. Rudolph, F.
Rominger, and A. S. K. Hashmi, Adv. Synth. Catal., 2018, 360,
2720; (b) N. D. Rode, A. Arcadi, A. Di Nicola, F. Marinelli, and
V. Michelet, Org. Lett., 2018, 20, 5103; (c) R. Vanjari, S.
Dutta, M. P. Gogoi, V. Gandon, and A. K. Sahoo, Org. Lett.,
2018, 20, 8077.
Conflicts of interest
4 | J. Name., 2012, 00, 1-3
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