Visible Light-Catalyzed Cascade Radical Cyclization of N-Propargylindoles with Acyl Chlorides for the Synthesis of 2-Acyl-9H-pyrrolo[1,2-a]indoles.

A novel and convenient visible light-catalyzed tandem radical cyclization of N-propargylindoles with acyl chlorides for accessing 2-acyl-9H-pyrrolo[1,2-a]indoles is established. This transformation involves sequential addition of the acyl radical to the carbon-carbon triple bond, intramolecular cyclization with the 2-position of indole, and isomerization of the carbon-carbon double bond. The experimental results show that this reaction contains a radical pathway and a radical chain process is not the major pathway for the formation of products.