Pd-Catalyzed cascade Heck cyclization/carbonylation of indoles with aryl formates: enantioselective construction of indolo[2,1- a ]isoquinolines.

An efficient palladium-catalyzed cascade cyclization/carbonylation of indoles with aryl formates to access ester-functionalized indolo[2,1- a ]isoquinoline scaffolds has been developed. In addition, an asymmetric variant is also achieved using a chiral phosphine ligand, affording the indolo[2,1- a ]isoquinoline products in good yields and enantioselectivities.