Quantum chemical study of the transformation of 2-(N-alkylamino)-3-(indol-1-yl)-and 2-(N-alkylamino)-3-(indol-3-yl)maleimides by protic acids: Tandem hydride transfer/cyclization mechanism

The geometric parameters, the charge distribution, and the energetics of N-methyl-2-(N-ethylanilino)-3-(indol-1-yl)-and N-methyl-2-(N-ethylanilino)-3-(indol-3-yl)maleimides and their conjugated acids were studied by density functional theory calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level. The mechanism of the tandem hydride transfer/cyclization sequence, which occurs after protonation of N-methyl-2-(N-ethylanilino)-3-(indol-1-yl)-and N-methyl-2-(N-ethylanilino)-3-(indol-3-yl)maleimides, was analyzed. The investigation of the potential energy surface for the tandem hydride transfer/cyclization of the iminium cation that formed upon protonation revealed that the hydride transfer followed by intramolecular cyclization at position 7 of the indole fragment in N-methyl-2-(N-ethylanilino)-3-(indol-1-yl)maleimide is the preferable process, unlike alternative intramolecular cyclization involving the cationic center at the C(2) atom of the indole fragment and the benzene ring of the N-ethylaniline fragment of the indoleninium cation in N-methyl-2-(N-ethylanilino)-3-(indol-3-yl)maleimide. A study of the key intermediates of the assumed reaction mechanism demonstrated that these intermediates are actually stationary points on the potential energy surface (minima and transition states). Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 12, pp. 2069–2073, December, 2006.