L-PROLINE-CATALYZED SYNTHESIS OF NOVEL 5-(1H-INDOL-3-YL-METHYLENE)-THIAZOLIDINE-2,4-DIONE DERIVATIVES AS POTENTIAL ANTIHYPERGLYCEMIC AGENTS

Knoevenagel condensation between indole-3-aldehyde 1 and an active methylene group containing 2,4-thiazolidinedione 2 in refluxing toluene using L-proline as a catalyst yielded 3, which on alkylation using 2 equivalents of alkylating agent under phase-transfer-catalyzed (PTC) conditions using K2CO3 as a base in dimethylformamide gave N,N-I-symmetrically disubstituted 5-(1H-indol-3ylmethylene)-thiazolidine-2,4-diones 4. Alternately, 4 can be synthesized by condensing 5 and 6 in a single step. Using this synthetic strategy, N,N-I-unsymmetricallydisubstituted derivatives 9a-f were prepared either by condensing 6 with N-substituted-2,4-thiazolidinedione 5 to obtain 7 followed by alkylation under PTC conditions or condensing 6 with N-unsubstituted-2,4-thiazolidinedione 2 to yield 8 followed by alkylation under PTC conditions. The latter are the dehydro analogs of the dihydro-N-substituted-5-(1H-indol-3-yl-methylene)-thiazolidine-2,4-diones, which are potential antihyperglycemic agents.