Photo-driven bifunctional iron-catalyzed one-pot assembling of indoles from arylamines and alkanes/carboxylic acids

Indoles are privileged structural motifs in N-heterocyclic chemistry, while developing a general and facile platform capable of directly transforming commodity chemicals into multi-functionalized indoles persists as an unmet challenge. Herein, we present a photo-driven bifunctional iron-catalyzed strategy for one-pot synthesis of indoles from readily available arylamines and alkanes/carboxylic acids. By leveraging a synergistic combination of iron-based photocatalysis via ligand-to-metal charge transfer pathway and Lewis acid catalysis, the method enables efficient C(sp3)–H activation or decarboxylation followed by sigmatropic rearrangement cyclization under mild conditions. The protocol demonstrates broad substrate scope (152 examples), excellent functional group tolerance, and high yields (up to 95%), facilitating the direct construction of diverse indole scaffolds without pre-functionalization. Notably, the methodology can be successfully applied to the concise and scale-up total synthesis of several pharmacologically relevant indole derivatives, including Iprindole, Mebhydrolin, Melatonin, and A-FABP inhibitor, underscoring its practicality and potential for industrial application in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Indoles are privileged structural motifs in N-heterocyclic chemistry, while developing a general and facile platform capable of directly transforming commodity chemicals into multi-functionalized indoles persists as a challenge. Herein, the authors present a photo-driven bifunctional iron-catalyzed strategy integrating photocatalysis and Lewis acid catalysis for one-pot synthesis of indoles from readily available arylamines and alkanes/carboxylic acids.