The Dual Role of Ruthenium and Alkali Base Catalysts in Enabling a Conceptually New Shortcut to N‑Unsubstituted Pyrroles through Unmasked α‑Amino Aldehydes

A virtually salt-free and straightforward bimolecular assembly giving N-unsubstituted pyrroles through fully unmasked α-amino aldehydes, which was enabled by the dual effects of a catalytic ruthenium complex and an alkali metal base, is reported. Either solvent-free or acceptorless dehydrogenation facilitates high atom, step, and pot economy, which are otherwise difficult to achieve in multistep operations involving protection/deprotection.本研究报道了一种近乎无盐且简洁的双分子组装反应，以完全未受保护的α-氨基醛为原料合成N-未取代吡咯（N-unsubstituted pyrroles），该反应通过催化钌配合物与碱金属碱的协同双重效应实现。无论是采用无溶剂体系还是无受体脱氢路径，均可实现高原子经济性、步骤经济性与一锅法经济性，而这类优势在涉及保护/脱保护的多步合成操作中往往难以达成。