A concise silylamine approach to 2-amino-3-hydroxy-indoles with potent in vivo antimalaria activity.

The development of a concise strategy to access 2-amino-3-hydroxy-indoles, which are disclosed as novel antimalarials with potent in vivo activity, is reported. Starting from isatins the target compounds are synthesized in 2 steps and in good yields via oxoindole intermediates by employing tert-butyldimethylsilyl amine (TBDMSNH(2)) as previously unexplored ammonia equivalent.