SYNTHESIS OF NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES BY INTRAMOLECULAR CYCLIZATION OF ALPHA, BETA-UNSATURATED NITRO COMPOUNDS, CATALYZED BY PALLADIUM COMPLEXES AND WITH CARBON MONOXIDE AS THE REDUCTANT

This work consists of four main parts. Part I describes the synthesis of medicinally relevant indoles by palladium-catalyzed reductive cyclization of readily obtainable β-nitrostyrenes using carbon monoxide as the reductant and in acetonitrile as a solvent. Part II describe a new route to synthesize thieno[2,3-b]pyrrole or thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole by intramolecular reductive cyclization of α,β-unsaturated nitro compounds using carbon monoxide as the reductant and catalyzed by palladium complexes. Part III presents our work on palladium catalyzed intramolecular reductive cyclization of nitro-dienes with carbon monoxide, which provides a novel and efficient method for synthesis of 2,5-disubstituted or 2,3,5-trisubstituted pyrroles.