Recent Developments on Synthesis of Indole Derivatives Through Green Approaches and Their Pharmaceutical Applications

Indole moiety is often found in different classes of pharmaceutically active molecules having various biological activities including anticancer, anti-viral, anti-psychotic, antihypertensive, anti-migraine, anti-arthritis and analgesic activities. Due to enormous applications of indole derivatives in pharmaceutical chemistry, a number of conventional synthetic methods as well as green methodology have been developed for their synthesis. Green methodology has many advantages including high yields, short reaction time, and inexpensive reagents, highly efficient and environmentally benign over conventional methods. Currently, the researchers in academia as well as in pharmaceutical industries have been developing various methods for the chemical synthesis of indole based compounds via green approaches to overcome the drawbacks of conventional methods. This review reflects the last ten years developments of the various greener methods for the synthesis of indole derivatives by using microwave, ionic liquids, water, ultrasound, nanocatalyst, green catalyst, multicomponent reaction and solvent-free reactions etc. (please see the scheme below). Furthermore, the applications of green chemistry towards developments of indole containing pharmaceuticals and their biological studies have been represented in this review.