Efficient and General Synthesis of 3-Aminoindolines and 3-Aminoindoles via Copper-Catalyzed Three Component Coupling Reaction.

An efficient three component coupling (TCC) reaction toward a variety of 3-aminoindoline and 3-aminoindole derivatives has been developed. This cascade transformation proceeds via the copper-catalyzed coupling reaction between 2-aminobenzaldehyde, secondary amine, and alkyne leading to propargylamine intermediate, which, under the reaction conditions, undergoes cyclization into the indoline core. The latter, upon treatment with a base, smoothly isomerizes into indole. Alternatively, indole can directly be synthesized in a one-pot sequential reaction.