Synthesis of a Trifluoromethylindolocarbazole, Novel Cyclic 27-and 36-Membered N-Benzyltri-and-tetraindoles, and an N-Benzyltetraindolyltrimethane

摘要

5, 11-Dihydro-5, 11-dibenzyl-6-trifluoromethylindolo[3, 2-b]carbazole (6) and the cyclic N-benzylindole trimer 4 were synthesized from both N-benzylindole-3-methanol (1) and N, N'-dibenzyl-3, 3'-diindolylmethane (2) by treatment with trifluoroacetic anhydride. The former also gave the 36-membered cyclic N-benzylindole tetramer 7, and the latter furnished N-benzyl-3-trifluoroacetylindole (8). Heating 1 in aqueous methanol also yielded the trimer 4 along with 2, the N-benzylitriindolyldimethane 3, and the N-benzyltetraindolyltrimethane 5 whose structure and solid-state conformation were determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis. The results are discussed and plausible mechanisms of the reactions leading to 3-8 are presented.