Mild synthetic approach to novel indole-1-carbinols and preliminary evaluation of their cytotoxicity in hepatocarcinoma cells.

A mild and versatile method for the synthesis of some novel indole-1-carbinols has been developed via one-pot reaction of indoles and paraformaldehyde in the presence of an excess of CaO, MgO, ZnO or TiO(2). The solvent-free reaction provided all the indole derivatives in moderate to good yields and short reaction times. Moreover, the effect of some selected indole-1-carbinols on cell proliferation of the hepatoma cell line FaO was evaluated.