Unexpected synthesis of indolo[1,2-c]quinazolines by a sequential Ugi 4CC-Staudinger-aza-Wittig-nucleophilic addition reaction.

A new sequential Ugi-Staudinger-aza-Wittig-nucleophilic addition reaction was developed to construct indolo[1,2-c]quinazoline derivatives, starting from the easily accessible 2-azidobenzaldehyde, carboxylic acid, 2-acylaniline and isocyanide. It is noteworthy that this is the first report of the cyclization of the Ugi adduct to give a dihydroindole ring system with two quaternary carbon centers, via the nucleophilic addition reaction of the methine group to the carbonyl group.