Synthesis of 4-thiaharmalan analogue 4-aryl-1,3-thiazino[5,6-b]indole derivatives by prevention of rearrangements to position two of the indole moiety

An efficient and selective non-acidic protocol has been developed for the synthesis of derivatives of a new ring system: 4-aryl-1,3-thiazino[5,6-b]indole, a 4-thiaharmalan analogue. The convenient amidomethylation of indole-3-thiol (5) afforded 3-benzoylaminomethylthio-1H-indole (7a), with ortho-amidomethylated 2-benzoylamino-methyl-3-benzoylaminomethylthio-1H-indole (8) as side product. Following the Bischler–Napieralski reaction of 7a the rearranged 2-benzoylaminomethylthio-1H-indole 11 could be isolated. In order to prevent such rearrangements the target thiazinoindoles were prepared via 3-thiobenzoylaminomethylthioindole (13) via a modified Bischler–Napieralski reaction.