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Metal‐Free Synthesis of Fluorinated Indoles Enabled by Oxidative Dearomatization
Author(s) -
Vitaku Edon,
Smith David T.,
Njardarson Jon T.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201511149
Subject(s) - aniline , indole test , chemistry , combinatorial chemistry , trifluoromethyl , organic chemistry , alkyl
Nitrogen heterocycles are found in a majority of approved small‐molecule pharmaceuticals, and the number of approved fluorinated drugs is increasing each decade. Therefore, new approaches for accessing fluorinated nitrogen heterocycles are of great significance. A novel, scalable, and metal‐free method for accessing a wide range of fluorinated indoles is described. This oxidative‐dearomatization‐enabled approach assembles 2‐trifluoromethyl NH‐indole products from simple commercially available anilines with hexafluoroacetylacetone in the presence of an organic oxidant. The nature of the aniline N‐capping group is critical for the success of this new reaction. Furthermore, the indole products contain a 3‐trifluoroacetyl group, which can be exploited to access a plethora of useful functional groups.