The Fischer indole synthesis is a chemical reaction that produces the aromatic heterocycle indole from a (substituted) phenylhydrazine and an aldehyde or ketone under acidic conditions. The reaction was discovered in 1883 by Hermann Emil Fischer. Today antimigraine drugs of the triptan class are often synthesized by this method.
The choice of acid catalyst is very important. Brønsted acids such as HCl, H2SO4, polyphosphoric acid and p-toluenesulfonic acid have been used successfully. Lewis acids such as boron trifluoride, zinc chloride, iron chloride, and aluminium chloride are also useful catalysts.
Several reviews have been published.
Read more about Fischer Indole Synthesis: Reaction Mechanism, Buchwald Modification
Famous quotes containing the words fischer and/or synthesis:
“In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.”
—Ernst Fischer (1899–1972)
“The new shopping malls make possible the synthesis of all consumer activities, not least of which are shopping, flirting with objects, idle wandering, and all the permutations of these.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)