3-Phenacylideneoxindoles with tosylmethyl isocyanide and MeOH through C–C bond cleavage: facile synthesis of pyrrole and 2H-pyrrolo[3,4-c]quinoline derivatives

A novel reaction of 3-phenacylideneoxindoles (1) with tosylmethyl isocyanide (2a) and MeOH through C–C bond cleavage has been developed. The reaction proceeded under mild conditions, providing a powerful synthetic tool for the construction of pyrrole derivatives (3) from easily accessible starting materials and synthesis of 2H-pyrrolo[3,4-c]quinolines (4) by further dehydration of 3.