One-Pot Synthesis of α-Carbolines via Sequential Palladium-Catalyzed Aryl Amination and Intramolecular Arylation

A one-pot synthesis of alpha-carbolines via a palladium-catalyzed aryl amination followed by intramolecular arylation is described. 2,3-Dichloro- and 2,3-dibromopyridines have been shown to react with readily available anilines to obtain various substituted alpha-carbolines in moderate to excellent yields.