Transition-Metal-Free Redox-Neutral One-Pot C3-Alkenylation of Indoles Using Aldehydes.

The synthesis of sensitive β-alkyl 3-vinylindoles having diverse functional groups with good selectivity remains a challenging task. Keeping the synthetic utility of 3-alkenylindoles in mind, we explored a unique approach to synthesize them from unprotected indoles in a domino fashion. A transition-metal-free C3-alkenylation of indole is reported by using sequential Brønsted acid/base catalysis. Several β-substituted 3-alkenylindoles and conjugated 1,3-dienes are synthesized by direct coupling of indole and readily available aliphatic aldehydes. Excellent scalability and recycling of benzenesulfinic acid for successive alkenylation reactions up to five times make this method economically viable.