Abstract

A facile method for the synthesis of a variety of beta-carbolines and their natural products such as norharmane (2a), harmane (2b), eudistomins I, N, T, and U (6, 7, 9 and 10, respectively) has been successfully developed via a decorboxylative aromatization tool by employing N-chlorosuccinimide (NCS) as a mild and efficient reagent. Gratifyingly, this reagent system proceeds in a one-pot manner and converted all the tetrahydro-beta-carboline acids into their corresponding decorboxylative aromatic products with good to excellent yields. Additionally, this system works well in the case of tetrahydro-beta-carboline esters to produce their aromatic partners in high yields.