Study of the oxidation of 3-hydroxypyrroloindoles to pyrrolobenzoxazine alkaloids

This report describes a detailed study of the oxidation-Meisenheimer rearrangement of N-methyl-3-hydroxy-7-chloropyrroloindoline ethyl ester and the corresponding O-Boc and N-Boc derivatives. Experimental conditions were found, which allowed the selective Boc protection of either the tertiary alcohol substituent or the NH group of the aminal function. It was shown that both the parent compound and its O-Boc derivative yielded a mixture of oxazines and, in some cases, N-oxides upon treatment with m-CPBA. MS fragmentation (APCI) clearly differentiates formation of N-oxides and oxazines. The N-Boc derivatives exclusively yielded the N-oxides showing that the Meisenheimer rearrangement requires the presence of a high energy lone pair on the neighbouring nitrogen atom. Both the parent compound and the O-Boc derivative gave a mixture of rearranged products and N-oxide depending on the reaction conditions.