α-Imino Iridium Carbenes from Imidoyl Sulfoxonium Ylides: Application in the One-Step Synthesis of Indoles.

Imidoyl sulfoxonium ylides are presented for the first time as potential precursors to generate α-imino metal-carbene intermediates and applied in direct C-H functionalization reactions catalyzed by [Ir(cod)Cl]2 (4 mol %) to provide 2-substituted indoles (up to 70% yield) in just one step. This class of sulfur ylide is successfully obtained from imidoyl chloride and dimethylsulfoxonium methylide (23 new examples in 45-85% yield) or by imino group formation from the corresponding ß-keto sulfoxonium ylides and anilines in the presence of TiCl4 as a Lewis acid (9 examples in 33-94% yield).