A novel, chemoselective one-pot procedure for the preparation of 3H-spiro[isobenzofuran-1,2′-pyrrole]-3,3′(1′H)-dione derivatives via oxidative cleavage of 3a,8b-dihydroxyindeno[1,2-b]pyrroles

A one-pot, efficient and chemoselective procedure for the synthesis of new 3H-spiro[isobenzofuran-1,2′-pyrrole]-3,3′(1′H)-dione derivatives has been developed which involves room temperature oxidative cleavage of 3a,8b-dihydroxyindeno[1,2-b]pyrroles themselves synthesized from the reaction of ninhydrin and enaminones in 30% ethanol. A reasonable mechanism is proposed for the oxidation reaction based on the results of this study and our previous related work.