CommentIndole has potentially reactive sites for a variety of chemical reactions to generate molecular diversity (Farhanullah et al., 2004). Indole derivatives, either natural or synthetic products, have been widely studied because of their therapeutic importance (Sundberg, 1996). Indoles are known to dimerize and trimerize in acidic media (Noland et al., 1960), and the derivatives of the indole dimer, i.e. a series of 1-imidoyl-2-(2-and 3-indolyl)indolines, are found to present potential diuretic activity (Wu et al., 1972). The title compound (I) was synthesized by dimerization of N-methylindole in the presence of iodine as a catalyst. Herein we report the crystal structure of (I).The molecular structure of (I) is shown in Fig.1. A l l bond distances and angles are normal. The length of the bond linking the indole and the indoline rings (C2-C10) is 1.486 (3) Å. The indoline ring adopts an envelope conformation with atom C10 deviating from the N2/C11/C12/C17 plane by 0.501 (3) Å. The indole ring and the indoline ring are approximately perpendicular, and the dihedral angle between them is 86.30 (3)°.
ExperimentalA mixture of N-methylindole (10 mmol) and I 2 (1 mmol) was stirred in acetonitrile (30 ml) at room temperature for a few s.After completion of the reaction (TLC, < 1 min), the mixture was treated with aqueous Na 2 S 2 O 3 solution (5%, 30 ml). The product was extracted with ethyl acetate (3 × 30 ml). The combined organic layer was dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate, and purified by column chromatography (ethyl acetate:petroleum ether = 1:20) to afford the title compound (85% yield).Recrystallization by slow evaporation of a methanol solution was carried out to obtain good, diffraction quality crystals.
RefinementAll H atoms were positioned geometrically and allowed to ride on their respective parent atoms, with C-H = 0.93, 0.96, 0.97 or 0.98 Å and U iso (H) = 1.2 or 1.5 U eq (C).