Epton, Ryan G., Unsworth, William P. orcid.org/0000-0002-9169-5156 and Lynam, Jason M. orcid.org/0000-0003-0103-9479 (2022) Selectivity, Speciation, and Substrate Control in the Gold-Catalyzed Coupling of Indoles and Alkynes. Organometallics. 497–507. ISSN 0276-7333
Abstract
A convenient and mild protocol for the gold-catalyzed intermolecular coupling of substituted indoles with carbonyl-functionalized alkynes to give vinyl indoles is reported. This reaction affords 3-substituted indoles in high yield, and in contrast to the analogous reactions with simple alkynes which give bisindolemethanes, only a single indole is added to the alkyne. The protocol is robust and tolerates substitution at a range of positions of the indole and the use of ester-, amide-, and ketone-substituted alkynes. The use of 3-substituted indoles as substrates results in the introduction of the vinyl substituent at the 2-position of the ring. A combined experimental and computational mechanistic study has revealed that the gold catalyst has a greater affinity to the indole than the alkyne, despite the carbon-carbon bond formation step proceeding through an η2(π)-alkyne complex, which helps to explain the stark differences between the intra- and intermolecular variants of the reaction. This study also demonstrated that the addition of a second indole to the carbonyl-containing vinyl indole products is both kinetically and thermodynamically less favored than in the case of more simple alkynes, providing an explanation for the observed selectivity. Finally, a highly unusual gold-promoted alkyne dimerization reaction to form a substituted gold pyrylium salt has been identified and studied in detail.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Funding Information: We are grateful to the University of York (Ph.D. studentship to R.G.E. and the provision of an Eleanor Dodson Fellowship to W.P.U.) and the EPSRC (EP/H011455/1 and EP/K031589/1) for funding computational equipment used in this study. We thank Dr. Michael James (University of York) for insightful comments on this manuscript. We are grateful to Dr. Adrian Whitwood for the single crystal X-ray structure of 37 . Publisher Copyright: © 2022 American Chemical Society. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Chemistry (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 03 Mar 2022 17:00 |
Last Modified: | 11 Jan 2025 00:08 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.organomet.2c00035 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.organomet.2c00035 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:184384 |
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