Expedient preparation of nazlinine and a small library of indole alkaloids using flow electrochemistry as an enabling technology

An expedient synthesis of the indole alkaloid nazlinine is reported. Judicious choice of flow electrochemistry as an enabling technology has permitted the rapid generation of a small library of unnatural relatives of this biologically active molecule. Furthermore, by conducting the key electrochemical Shono oxidation in a flow cell, the loading of electrolyte can be significantly reduced to 20 mol % while maintaining a stable, broadly applicable process.