Fe-catalyzed dehydrogenation of N-heterocycles to quinolines and indoles
Yan-Yan Zhao1, Xiao-Bin Li1, Fei Chen1
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, North 4th Road, Shihezi, Xinjiang 832003, China. bochunbo@shzu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Herein, we report an iron-based catalytic system for the highly efficient dehydroaromatization of five- and six-membered N-heterocycles. The iron-based system exhibits a high catalytic performance for producing quinolines and indoles from N-heterocycles and demonstrates excellent functional group tolerance (compatible with halogens, alkyl, aryl, ether groups, etc.), and its practicality has been further validated through gram-scale reactions and the synthesis of antimalarial drugs. Compared to noble metal catalysts, this system significantly reduces costs and offers a new strategy for constructing aromatic N-heterocyclic scaffolds in pharmaceutical intermediates and functional molecules.
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