Silver-Catalyzed Intramolecular C-2 Selective Acylation of Indoles with Aldehydes: An Atom-Economical Entry to Indole-Indolone Scaffolds.

A direct annulation reaction of N-(2-formylaryl)indoles has been developed, which can provide a new entry to biologically and medicinally important indole-indolone scaffolds via a silver-catalyzed direct oxidative coupling between aldehyde CH and sp2 CH bonds for the first time. Remarkably, this strategy displayed excellent functional group compatibilities, thereby suggesting its wide potential for applications in developing and synthesizing new drug-like compounds containing indole-indolone frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]