An alternative one-pot gold-catalyzed approach to the assembly of 11H-indolo[3,2-c]quinolines.

A new one-pot approach was developed to construct the 11H-indolo[3,2-c]quinoline scaffold through a gold-catalysed reaction of 2-[(2-aminophenyl)ethynyl]phenylamine derivatives with aldehydes. The broad scope and the high regioselectivity of this new protocol as well as the mild and neutral reaction conditions make it a viable alternative to the previously reported procedures.