Syntheses of novel 2,3-diaryl-substituted 5-cyano-4-azaindoles exhibiting c-Met inhibition activity

Herein we report the syntheses of 2,3-diaryl-substituted pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyridine-5-carbonitriles via a one-pot 5-endo-dig-cyclization/protection reaction followed by palladium catalyzed arylation. In addition, a complementary synthesis route employing Larock methodology is applied to efficiently explore further aryl moieties in the 2-position. The novel compounds' expedient c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase inhibition activity is discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.