Abstract
A new oxygenated dimer of 3-methylindole was isolated from the reaction mixture obtained by oxygenation of 3-methylindole in the presence of a sterically crowded cobalt catalyst, N, N'-(cis-1, 2-cyclohexylene) bis (3-tert-butylsalicylideneaminato) cobalt (II). X-Ray crystal structure determination of its acetylated derivative revealed it to be 6-acetyl-5aβ (H), 11aα (H)-12β-hydroxy-10bβ, 12α-dimethyl-5a, 10b, 11a, 12-tetrahydro-6H-oxazolo [3, 2-a : 4, 5-b'] diindole, with a novel C6-C4N-C3NO-C4N-C6 ring system. Two conformers due to restricted rotation of the acetyl group of the acetylated derivative was observed by temperature-dependent 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
