Nickel-catalyzed C3-alkylation of indoles with alcohols via a borrowing hydrogen strategy

An efficient method for the Ni-catalyzed C3-alkylation of indoles using readily available alcohols as the alkylating reagents has been developed. The alkylation was addressed with an air and moisture-stable binuclear nickel complex ligated by tetrahydroquinolin-8-one as the effective pre-catalyst. The newly developed transformation could accommodate a broad substrate scope including primary/secondary benzylic and aliphatic alcohols and substituted indoles. Mechanistic studies suggested that the reaction proceeds through a borrowing hydrogen pathway.