Catalytic Asymmetric Reactions of Indolylmethanols for the Synthesis of Chiral Indole Derivatives

Abstract

Owing to the importance of chiral indole derivatives, catalytic asymmetric transformations of indole-based platform molecules have proven to be robust methods toward the enantioselective synthesis of such compounds. Particularly, indolylmethanols serve as versatile indole-based platform molecules for catalytic asymmetric construction of chiral indole scaffolds. As a result, significant progress has been made in the field of catalytic asymmetric reactions of indolylmethanols. This feature article reviews the latest advances in catalytic asymmetric reactions of indolylmethanols, including those from our group, by giving representative examples and insightful analysis. Moreover, the remaining issues in this field are pointed out, which will inspire chemists to devise new class of indolylmethanol platform molecules, innovative catalytic strategies and asymmetric transformations, thus promoting the further development of chiral indole chemistry.