Eco-Benign Synthesis of Indole Derivatives Employing Diverse Heterogeneous Catalysts

Heterocycles are important chemical entities nding application as medicines, agrochemicals, and cosmetics. The ve-membered N-heterocycle indole ring system is the most widely distributed, occurring in nature as alkaloids. Since it was rst isolated by treatment of indigo dye with oleum, the name indole is a combination of the words indigo and oleum. Among the numerous structurally diverse derivatives, even the simple indole derivatives such as tryptamine, tryptophan, and serotonin show signicant biological activity. Hence, it is not surprising that this structural motif is also an important component in many of today’s pharmaceuticals (Figure 2.1).