Acid-promoted cascade cyclization to produce fused-polycyclic indole derivatives.

An acid-promoted novel cascade cyclization is described. Using 8 equiv of trifluoroacetic acid or a catalytic amount of Lewis acid as the promoter, structurally diverse polycyclic cyclopenta[b]indoles were obtained in moderate to excellent yield. This cascade process was extremely effective for the synthesis of 8-membered ring-fused cyclopenta[b]indole derivatives.