Catalytic Reductive Synthesis and Direct Derivatization of Unprotected Aminoindoles, Aminopyrroles, and Iminoindolines.

A titanium(III)-catalyzed radical cyclization to unprotected 3-aminoindoles, 3-aminopyrroles, or 3-iminoindolines is reported. The reaction is non-hazardous, scalable, and allows facile isolation of the free products by extraction. The method is demonstrated on a large substrate scope and it further allows the direct installation of various nitrogen protecting groups or the synthesis of building blocks for peptide chemistry in a single sequence. Fused bisindoles can be directly accessed from the cyclization products.