Polystyrene-supported aluminum chloride as an efficient and reusable catalyst for condensation of indole with various carbonyl compounds
Crosslinked polystyrene-supported aluminum chloride (Ps-AlCl3) is a stable, recyclable and environmental friendly heterogeneous catalyst for the condensation of indole with aldehydes and ketones to afford bis-indolylmethanes. In addition, (Ps-AlCl3) shows satisfactory selectivity in the reaction of mixtures of an aldehyde and a ketone with indole. Although AlCl3 is a water sensitive, corrosive and environmentally harmful compound, Ps-AlCl3 is a stable and water-tolerant species. The mild reaction conditions, short reaction times, easy work-up, high to excellent yields, chemoselectivity, reuse of the catalyst for at least ten times without significant change in its catalytic activity, low cost, and easy preparation and handling of the polymeric catalyst are obvious advantages of the present method.