Organic Letters
Letter
a
On the basis of the above experiments and observations, a
plausible mechanism of this transformation has been proposed,
which can be found in the Supporting Information.
Scheme 3. Substrate Scope with Different Indole Precursors
Notably, we observed that careful monitoring of the reaction
between 4 and 5 under standard conditions revealed that the
amine addition product 11 was also formed in considerable
amounts (Scheme 4), but interestingly, the formation of 11 was
Scheme 4. Formation of Amine Addition Product 11
a
Reaction conditions: 0.04 M solution of 9 in DCE. Yields reported
are isolated yields.
found to be reversible. TLC analysis of the reaction mixture
indicated that the concentration of 11 was gradually decreasing,
and at the same time, the concentration of 6 was steadily
increasing during the course of the reaction. Although 11 was
unstable under acidic conditions, we could isolate some amounts
of 11 by purification through neutral alumina column. The amine
addition product 11 was also characterized by spectral
techniques. To confirm the reversible nature of this reaction, in
an independent experiment, 11 was treated with PdCl2 under
standard conditions, and as expected, it was completely
converted in to 6 in 2.5 h (Scheme 4).
In conclusion, an efficient one-pot protocol for the synthesis of
heavily substituted unsymmetrical diarylindolylmethane deriva-
tives has been developed through Pd-catalyzed annulation of o-
alkynylanilines followed by extended conjugate addition to p-
quinone methides. Broad substrate scope and 100% atom
economy are the key features of this methodology. Unlike most
of the reported methods for the synthesis of 2,3-substituted
indole derivatives, this protocol does not require any protection
of the amino group of o-alkynylanilines. An enantioselective
version of this methodology is currently under investigation.
substituents present in the alkyne moiety, the o-alkynylanilines
(derived from electron-rich as well as electron-deficient
arylalkynes) underwent smooth transformation to their corre-
sponding products (10a−f,i,j) in moderate to excellent yields.
The yields of the product 10g and 10h were moderate in the
cases of indole precursors derived from 4-bromophenylacetylene
and 4-phenylphenylacetylene. The indole precursor prepared
from 3-ethynylthiophene was also converted to its corresponding
diarylindolylmethane 10k in excellent yield. The reaction worked
pretty well in the cases of indole precursors (9l and 9m) derived
from ethynylcyclopropane and ethynylcyclopentane, and the
products 10l and 10m were obtained in 95 and 82% yields,
respectively. We could also synthesize a few other diarylindolyl-
methanes (10n−p) in reasonable yields from p-quinone
methides derived from o-alkynylanilines (9n−p) having
substituents in the aniline ring.
At this stage, our attention was shifted to elucidate a reasonable
mechanism of this transformation. Initially, we believed that the
reaction proceeds via 2-substituted indole derivative (through
aminopalladation step), which then adds to p-QM in 1,6-fashion
to generate the diarylindolylmethane derivative. To get a better
understanding, a couple of control experiments were performed
in which 2-phenylindole (1 equiv) was treated with 5 (1.2 equiv)
in the presence or absence Pd catalyst at 70 °C in DCE (please
see the Supporting Information for the scheme). In the case of
reaction with Pd catalyst, the product 6 was obtained in
quantitative yield within 1 h. Unexpectedly, even in the case of
the reaction without Pd catalyst, 6 was obtained in 90% yield,
although the reaction time was approximately 6 times more than
that of the Pd-catalyzed reaction. Therefore, it is obvious that Pd
catalyst does help in accelerating the reaction. In the case of
reaction without Pd catalyst, we presume that the traces of HCl
present in DCE are responsible to effect this transformation by
activating the p-QM through hydrogen bonding. To confirm the
participation of HCl in the reaction, another experiment was
conducted where 2-phenylindole was treated with 5 in toluene
instead of DCE at 70 °C, but in this case, the product 6 was
observed only in trace quantities after 6 h. But, interestingly,
when one drop of 1 N aqueous HCl was added, the reaction was
completed in 1 h, and 6 was obtained in 71% isolated yield. These
experimental observations clearly suggest that HCl is playing
important role along with the Pd-catalyst in the 1,6-conjugate
addition step to generate the final product. It is also evident that
the reaction proceeds through 2-substituted indole intermediate.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
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* Supporting Information
General experimental procedures and characterization data of
the products. The Supporting Information is available free of
AUTHOR INFORMATION
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Corresponding Author
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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We gratefully acknowledge IISER Mohali for financial support
and infrastructure. V.R. thanks the CSIR, New Delhi, for a
research fellowship. We also thank Mr. Hareram Yadav (IISER
Mohali) for his help in solving the crystal structure. The NMR
and HRMS facilities at IISER Mohali are gratefully acknowl-
edged.
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Org. Lett. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX