Synthesis of 2-aryl-6-nitro-4-(<Emphasis Type="Italic">vic</Emphasis>-triazol-1-yl)-1<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-indoles from <Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis>-2,4,6-trinitrostilbenes

A method is developed for the preparation of 4-(vic-triazol-1-yl)indoles that involves replacement of the ortho-NO₂ group in E-2,4,6-trinitrostilbenes by an azido group, condensation of E-2-azido-4,6-dinitrostilbenes with acetylacetone, replacement of the second ortho-NO₂ group in the resulting stilbenes by N₃, and subsequent thermolysis of the azide into the target indole. The reactions of E-2-azido-4,6-dinitrostilbenes with cyclohexane-1,3-dione gave E-2-amino-4,6-dinitrostilbenes, which can be used for selective transformation of the ortho-NO₂ group into an amino group in E-2,4,6-trinitrostilbenes. Dedicated to Academician N. K. Kochetkov on the occasion of his 90th birthday. __________ Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1293–1296, May, 2005.