The indole nucleus is a common and important feature of a variety of natural products and medicinal agents. 1 The traditional approach for preparing the indole nucleus is the Fischer indole reaction. 2 As this reaction has shortcomings, the palladium-catalyzed coupling of o- haloanilines is becoming an excellent alternative. 3 A combination of such a palladium- catalyzed reaction with ketones and aldehydes would be a tremendously straightforward ...
[Harbert, Charles A.; Plattner, Jacob J.; Welch, Willard M.; Weissman, Albert; Koe, B. Kenneth Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 1980 , vol. 23, # 6 p. 635 - 643]