Facile and Convenient Synthesis of Functionalized Aryl-Containing Isoindigo Derivatives via Substituted Indolin-2-one Carbene Dimerization

The reaction of substituted benzyl-, aroylmethyl-, or 1-phenetylisatins with hexaethyltriaminophosphine has been shown to lead to the formation of a library of 3,3′-biindolinylidene-2,2′-diones with functionalized benzyl-, aroylmethyl-, and 1-phenetyl fragments at the nitrogen atom.