The reductive cyclization of 2-nitrobenzyl ketones under dissolving metal conditions is well established as a route to the synthesis of indoles [1, 2]. Earlier work from our laboratory studied a tandem reduction–Michael addition variant of this reaction as a route to the synthesis of 1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydroquinoline-2-acetic esters [3], and we have recently used this reaction to synthesize 1, 2, 3, 9-tetrahydro-4H-carbazol-4-one [4]. In this investigation, we ...
