the Friedel-Crafts (FC) reaction of indole with trifluoropyruvate with high generality, yielding the highly enantiomerically enriched FC adduct. Electron-rich indoles have high reactivity due to a dual activation mechanism showing second-order kinetics for CuII, whereas indoles with a soft substituent at C(4) proceed at a rate that is three orders of magnitude lower via a coordination mechanism, which
Solkane® 365mfc is a proven environmentally benign alternative solvent for catalyst-free Friedel–Crafts (F–C) alkylations of indoles with trifluoropyruvate and glyoxylate. Their enantioselective variants are also achieved by virtue of the high-affinity of fluorous cinchona alkaloids catalysts to Solkane® 365mfc to provide F–C adducts in excellent yields with good to excellent ees (up to 96% ee).