Reported herein is an environmentally benign electrochemical C−H bond dehydrogenative amination protocol for the construction of privileged carbazole moiety with broad generality. Preliminary mechanistic investigations implied a radical reaction pathway. Compared with traditional ionic routes, the scalable transition‐metal and exogenous‐oxidant free strategy highlighted the green and sustainable nature
A ZnBr2-mediated arylation of N-protected 2/3-bromomethylindoles containing an electron-deficient malonylidene unit with arenes at 80 degrees C led to the formation of arylated products, which on Unprecedented 1,5-sigmatropic rearrangement followed by electrocyclization and subsequent aromatization with loss of diethylmalonate furnished the corresponding annulated carbazoles in reasonable yields. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.