Efficient and Versatile Synthesis of Indoles from Enamines and Imines by Cross‐Dehydrogenative Coupling

Complement for Fischer: An efficient palladium-catalyzed indole synthesis proceeds by the intramolecular cross-dehydrogenative coupling of N-aryl imines under mild conditions using molecular oxygen as the sole oxidant. This practical method relies on anilines and ketones as starting materials (and thus the same retrosynthetic disconnection as the Fischer indole synthesis) and will likely become a popular route.