The Quest for an Oxidative Coupling of Phenols and Indoles towards Benzofuroindolines: A Two-Stage Approach

The benzofuroindoline motif is found in several natural products and its biosynthesis is believed to be the oxidative coupling of phenols and indoles. A two-stage sequence has been developed to assemble these two units through the generation of electrophilic N-acetylindoles. A large number of benzofuroindolines were obtained by this strategy.