Transition-Metal-Free Base-Promoted Deaminative Coupling of Gramines with Aminomaleimides

J Org Chem. 2023 Sep 15;88(18):13303-13314. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.3c01610. Epub 2023 Sep 5.

Abstract

The direct utilization of amines for C-C bond formation without prefunctionalization remains a significant challenge. Herein, we report the base-promoted deaminative coupling of gramines with aminomalaimides under redox-neutral conditions. In this operationally simple reaction, a series of indolmethyl-substituted aminomaleimides that emitted fluorescence were synthesized in good-to-excellent yields. Biological evaluation revealed that some products exhibited antiproliferative activity against human cancer cell lines.