A General Synthesis of N-Reverse-Prenyl Indoles

A general method for the construction of N-reverse-prenyl indoles was established using copper catalyzed N-propargylation, the Lindlar hydrogenation of the acetylenic bond. and dehydrogenation with chemical manganese dioxide as key steps. The antifungal indole alkaloids (1 and 2) and N-reverse-prenyl tryptophan (3) were efficiently synthesized by this method.