Indolopyrazines possessing both indole and pyrazine moieties are significant structural motifs in a number of naturally occurring products, show a wide range of biological activities, including antitumor and antiviral activities, and function as fluorescent and host materials. In this regard, the indolopyrazine motif has continuously received the attention of synthetic chemists. Thus, establishing synthetic approaches for preparing regioselective indolopyrazines from simply attainable starting materials is highly demanded. We developed a regioselective synthetic method to prepare indolopyrazines through a sequential Rh-catalyzed formal [3 + 3] cycloaddition and aromatization reaction of a wide range of diazoindolinimines with azirines. Because the previously reported synthetic methods afforded mixtures of indolopyrazines, the present method using unsymmetrical azirines has the an excellent merit from a regioselectivity standpoint. Because indolopyrazines are fluorescent, their optical properties in CH2Cl2 solution were studied. The extinction coefficients were variable from 107,298 to 585,478 M-1cm-1. The indolopyrazine affords high quantum yields and extinction coefficients, which are an attractive property for biological probes.
This work was supported by the Human Resource Training Program for Regional Innovation and Creativity through the Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF-2015H1C1A1035955) |