Synthesis of 3-sulfenylated indoles by a simple NaOH promoted sulfenylation reaction

The C-3 sulfenylation reaction of indoles has been achieved under mild reaction conditions by simply employing NaOH as promoter and thiols as thiolating reagents. This simple method allows for easy and rapid synthesis of various 3-sulfenylated indoles with generally good to excellent yields. Primary attempts in scale-up synthesis give satisfactory result.