Indoles from simple anilines and alkynes: palladium-catalyzed C-H activation using dioxygen as the oxidant.

Pd doles it out: A palladium-catalyzed approach to indoles using the title reaction was achieved (see scheme). The oxidant used in this catalytic cycle was O(2). Both N-nonsubstituted and N-alkyl monosubstituted anilines can be successfully transformed into the corresponding indoles by this method.