Intramolecular oxidative C-N bond formation for the synthesis of carbazoles: comparison of reactivity between the copper-catalyzed and metal-free conditions

New synthetic procedures for intramolecular oxidative C-N bond formation have been developed for the preparation of carbazoles starting from N-substituted amidobiphenyls under either Cu-catalyzed or metal-free conditions using hypervalent iodine(III) as an oxidant. Whereas iodobenzene diacetate or bis(trifluoroacetoxy)iodobenzene alone undergoes the reaction to provide carbazole products in moderate to low yields, combined use of copper(II) triflate and the iodine(III) species significantly improves the reaction efficiency, giving a more diverse range of products in good to excellent yields. On the basis of mechanistic studies including kinetic profile, isotope effects, and radical inhibition experiments, the copper species is proposed to catalytically activate the hypervalent iodine(III) oxidants. The synthetic utility of the present approach was nicely demonstrated in a direct synthesis of indolo3,2-b]carbazole utilizing a double C-N bond formation.