Iodine‐Catalyzed Vinylogous Friedel–Crafts Alkylation of Indoles: Facile Access to Versatile β‐(3‐Indolyl)carbonyl Frameworks

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

An efficient and scalable metal‐free protocol is developed for C3‐alkylation of indoles employing alkylidene and arylidene malonates as alkyl surrogates, catalyzed by nontoxic and inexpensive iodine. The developed methodology is operationally simple and provides access to a diverse range of products in high yields, up to 95%. The method is further extended and developed into an one‐pot stepwise synthesis strategy for the synthesis of β ‐(3‐indolyl)carboxylic acid derivatives. Via product modifications, pharmaceutically relevant 5,10‐dihydroindeno[1,2‐b]indole (DHII) and carboline‐based core for MK2 inhibitor analogues are synthesized.