Construction of carbocyclic ring of indoles using ruthenium-catalyzed ring-closing olefin metathesis.

The selective synthesis of substituted indoles was achieved by the ring-closing olefin metathesis (RCM)/elimination sequence or the RCM/tautomerization sequence of functionalized pyrrole precursors. The RCM/elimination sequence was also applied to double ring closure to yield a substituted carbazole.