Facile Synthesis of Bis(indolyl)methanes catalyzed by Ferric Dodecyl Sulfonate [Fe(DS)₃] in Water at Room Temperature

Abstract

Ferric dodecyl sulfonate [Fe(DS)₃] is easily prepared and can be used as a Lewis acid surfactant catalyst in water to conduct the highly efficient electrophilic substitution reaction of indoles with aliphatic or aromatic aldehydes at room temperature.

Keywords:

• Bisindolymethanes
• Fe(DS)₃
• indole
• water

Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Key Laboratory of Organic Chemistry of Jiangsu Province (No. JSK008), the National Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK2004038), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 20472062 and 20672079), and a research grant from the Innovation Project for Graduate Students of Jiangsu Province.