Colloquium Mathematicum.
Institute of Mathematics. Polish Academy of Sciences.
Vol. 153.
2018.
P. 97-101
The polyphosphoric acid-mediated reaction of 2-(2-aminophenyl)indenes with nitroalkenes was tested in the frame of synthetic studies towards CDK inhibitors with the paullone core. Unexpectedly, this reaction proceeded via a different mechanistic pathway affording derivatives of the natural alkaloid isocryptolepine. The scope of this unusual transformation was investigated and a mechanistic rationale explaining this outcome is offered. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.