Synthesis of 2‐Oxindoles from Substituted Indoles by Hypervalent‐Iodine Oxidation

A practical conversion of indoles into the corresponding 2‐oxindoles is achieved efficiently using a hypervalent iodine reagent. This oxidation is amenable to different substituted indoles, and allows the synthesis of a wide range of synthetically valuable substituted 2‐oxindoles in up to 90 % yield. Furthermore, Ropinirole, a drug used to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, was synthesized in three steps in an overall yield of 44 % using this method.