Studies in spiroheterocycles,Part XV. Investigation of the reaction of 3-(2-oxocycloalkylidene)-indol-2-ones with thiourea and urea derivatives

The reaction of 3-(2-oxocycloalkylidene)indol-2-one 1 with thiourea and urea derivatives has been investigated. Reaction of 1 with thiourea and urea in ethanolic potassium hydroxide media leads to the formation of spiro-2-indolinones 2a-f in 40–50% yield and a novel tetracyclic ring system 4,5-cycloalkyl-1,3-diazepino-4,5-b]indole-2-thione/one 3a-f in 30–35% yield. 3-(2-Oxocyclopentylidene)indol-2-one afforded 5′,6′-cyclopenta-2′-thioxo/ oxospiro3H-indole-3,4′(3′H)pyrimidin]-2(1H)-ones 2a,b and 3-(2-oxocyclohexylidene)indol-2-one gave 2′,4′a,5′,6′,7′,8′- hexahydro-2′-thioxo/oxospiro3H-indole-3,4′ (3′H)-quinazolin]-2(1H)-ones 2c-f . Under exactly similar conditions, reaction of 1 with fluorinated phenylthiourea/cyclohexylthiourea/phenylurea gave exclusively spiro products 2g-1 in 60–75% yield. The products have been characterized by elemental analyses, ir pmr. ¹⁹F nmr and mass spectral studies.