A route to annulated indoles via a palladium-catalyzed tandem alkylation/direct arylation reaction.

A norbornene-mediated palladium-catalyzed tandem alkylation/C-H functionalization sequence is described, in which an alkyl-aryl bond and a heteroaryl-aryl bond are formed in one pot. A variety of highly substituted six- and seven-membered ring annulated indoles were synthesized in good yields from bromoalkyl indoles and aryl iodides.