Copper-Catalyzed Aerobic Selective Oxidation of Tetrahydrocarbolines
Jun Shi1, Rui-An Wang1, Wei Wu1
1State Key Laboratory of Functions and Applications of Medicinal Plants, Guizhou Medical University; The Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Natural Products of Guizhou Province and Chinese Academy of Science, Guiyang, 550014, China.
Abstract:
We report a safe and convenient open-flask copper-catalyzed selective oxidation/functionalization methodology for tetrahydrocarbolines and tetrahydro-β-carbolines that employs atmospheric O2 as the terminal oxidant. The system is applicable to oxidative rearrangement of tetrahydro-β-carbolines, tetrahydrocarboline oxidation to α-alkoxy carbazoles and spirooxindoles, and Witkop oxidation. Mechanistic experiments indicated that a single-electron oxidation process is responsible for the tunable selectivity control. This copper-catalysis protocol represents a significant advance in the field of indole oxidation.
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