Fig. 4: Arylamine scope for one-pot two-step indole synthesis from carboxylic acids and arylamines.

Reaction conditions: step 1: b (0.2 mmol), tBuONO (1 equiv.), HBF4 (0.7 equiv.), EtOH (50 μL); step 2: a’ (3 equiv.), FeCl3·6H2O (10 mol%), L1 (20 mol%), DABCO (1 equiv.), KHSO4 (5 equiv.), MeCN (2 mL), N2, rt, 30 W 405 nm LED, 12 h. Isolated yield. aThe reaction was performed at 50 °C. bThe reaction was performed at 80 °C.