Proceedings Multicomponet Synthesis of Pyrrolo [3,4-a] Carbazole-1,3-Diones † Ana Bornadiego, Ana G. Neo, Jesús Díaz * and Carlos F. Marcos * Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Extremadura, Avda, Universidad, s/n, 10003 Cáceres, Spain;
[email protected] (A.B.);
[email protected] (A.G.N.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] (J.D.);
[email protected] (C.F.M.); Tel.: +34-9-2725-7158 (C.F.M.) † Presented at the 23rd International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry, 15 November–15 December 2019; Available online: https://ecsoc-23.sciforum.net/. Published: 14 November 2019 Abstract: Pyrrolocarbazoles are important structural motives present in many natural products and pharmaceuticals. Particularly, pyrrolo [3,4-a] carbazole-1,3-diones have attracted much attention as analogues of bioactive compounds, such as anticancer agent granulatimide. Surprisingly, only a few methods for the synthesis of these compounds have been reported in the literature, and they are almost limited to the Diel–Alder cycloaddition of 3-vinylindoles. We have recently developed a multicomponent synthesis of polysubstituted anilines starting from α,β-unsaturated carbonyls, isocyanides and dienophiles. Here we report the application of this tandem [4 + 1]–[4 + 2] cycloaddition procedure for the synthesis of 4-amino-5-arylisoindoline-1,3-diones, which are then cyclized by means of a metal catalyzed intramolecular C-N coupling, affording structurally diverse, natural product-like pyrrolo [3,4-a] carbazole-1,3-diones with high yields and selectivities. Keywords: isocyanides; multicomponent reaction; pyrrolocarbazoles; cycloaddition 1. Introduction Carbazole is a privileged heterocyclic structure, present in a wide range of naturally occurring alkaloids [1,2] and pharmacologically active compounds [3–6].