Intramolecular cyclization reactions of 3,4 bis(indol 3 yl)maleimides 1, 3 (indol 1 yl) 4 (indol 3 yl)maleimides 2, and 3,4 bis(indol 1 yl)maleimides 3 under the action of protic acids were studied in order to estimate the parameters of the interaction between protonated and unprotonated indole moieties. Geometric parameters, charge distributions, energy characteris tics, and information concerning the frontier orbitals of bisindolylmaleimides 1-3 were ob tained from density functional B3LYP/6 31G(d) quantum chemical calculations. Alternative pathways of protonation of bisindolylmaleimides with differently bonded indole and maleimide moieties were studied and pathways of cyclization of corresponding conjugated acids leading to polyannelated compounds were analyzed. All the key intermediates of the cyclization reactions correspond to stationary points on the potential energy surfaces (minima and transition states). Analysis of the potential energy surfaces revealed almost linear dependences of the activation energies of the cyclization reactions under study on the distances between the reaction centers, on the angle of approach of intramolecular electrophile, and on the energy gap (energy differ ence between frontier orbitals). The key role in the cyclization reactions is played by structural similarity between the starting indoleninium cations and the activated complexes of the reac tions under study.Research on the chemical properties and reactivity of 3,4 bisindolylmaleimides is of interest in connection with the fact that some compounds of this series and related indolo[2,3]carbazoles possess valuable biological proper ties. 1,2 Earlier, 3,4 it was shown that intramolecular cy clizations of 3,4 bis(indol 3 yl)maleimides 1, 3 (indol 1 yl) 4 (indol 3 yl)maleimides 2, and 3,4 bis(indol 1 yl)maleimides 3 under the action of protic acids proceed differently and result in different types of compounds. 3,4 Bis(indol 3 yl)maleimides 1 under acid catalysis con ditions and after dehydrogenation form indolo[2,3]carb azole derivatives 4 (Scheme 1). In the absence of oxidant (DDQ) intermediate 5 undergoes isomerization into aminophenylcarbazole 6 (see Scheme 1). Possible mecha nisms of the cyclization and isomerization of system 1 are shown in Scheme 2.Unlike 3,4 bis(indol 3 yl)maleimides 1, 3 (indol 1 yl) 4 (indol 3 yl)maleimides 2 and 3,4 bis(indol 1 yl)maleimides 3 under the action of protic acids undergo 2-4´ or 2-7´ cyclization to give 8b,9 dihydroin dolo [4´,3´:3,4,5]pyrrolo[3´,4´:6,7][1,4]azepino[1,2 a]in dol 1,3(2H,5H ) diones 7 or 9b,10 dihydroindo lo[1´,7´:4,5,6]pyrrolo[3´,4´:2,3][1,4]diazepino[1,7 a]in dol 1,3 diones 8, respectively (Scheme 3). Compounds 7 and 8 under the action of DDQ in toluene were converted to indolo[4´,3´:3,4,5]pyrrolo[3´,4´:6,7]azepino[1,2 a]in dol 1,3(2H,5H ) diones 9 and 1H indolo[1´,7´:4,5,6]pyr rolo[3´,4´:2,3][1,4]diazepino[1,7 a]indol 1,3(2H ) diones 10, respectively. Possible cyclization mecha nisms 3,4 are shown in Scheme 3.Since the cyclization reactions of differently fused bisind...