Metal, iodine and oxidant-free electrosynthesis of substituted indoles from 1-(2-aminophenyl)alcohols

A green and straightforward electrosynthesis of substituted indoles has been developed through dehydration and intramolecular dehydrogenative C–N bond-forming radical cross-coupling from 1-(2-aminophenyl)alcohols under metal,iodine and oxidant-free conditions.This electrochemical indole synthesis strategy has an excellent functional group,water and air tolerance.And,a possible cyclization process was proposed based on the radicaltrapping,intermediate verification,cyclic voltammetry,EPR and control experiments.