Reduction of ketosulfonyl indoles with sodium borohydride provides a ready entry to tryptophols in a regiocomplementary fashion with respect to the traditional oxirane ring-opening by indoles under Friedel–Crafts conditions. Compared to traditional β-ketosulfones, ketosulfonyl indoles show a peculiar behavior since they undergo a Lewis acid promoted elimination of the arylsulfonyl group allowing the preparation of indolyl-substituted 1,4-dicarbonyl derivatives.
Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry
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