Visible-light-induced dearomative amidodifluoroalkylation of indole derivatives to access C3a-difluoroalkyl pyrroloindolines

Abstract

Fluorinated heterocycles are privileged structural motifs that are widely present in many natural products and pharmaceutical compounds. Herein, we report an amidyl radical-mediated dearomatization of indoles with difluorinated silyl enol ethers for synthesizing a series of difluoroalkylated pyrroloindolines via a visible-light-induced cascade radical cyclization/difluoroalkylation process. The present approach features mild conditions, simple operation, broad substrate scope, and excellent diastereoselectivity. Moreover, the resulting difluoroalkylated products can be readily converted to the analogues of (±)-desoxyeseroline, offering broad potential applications for pharmaceutical research.