Electrocatalytic tandem Knoevenagel–Michael addition of barbituric acids to isatins: Facile and efficient way to substituted 5,5′-(2-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-3,3-diyl)bis(pyrimidine-2,4,6-(1H,3H,5H)-trione) scaffold

Electrocatalytic transformation of isatins and barbituric acids in ethanol in an undivided cell in the presence of sodium bromide as an electrolyte results in the formation of substituted 5,5′-(2-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-3,3-diyl)bis(pyrimidine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-triones) in 89–95% substance yields and 890–950% current yields. The developed efficient electrocatalytic approach to medicinally relevant 5,5′-(2-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-3,3-diyl)bis(pyrimidine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione) scaffold is 10 times faster than general chemical method, is beneficial from the viewpoint of diversity-oriented large-scale processes and represents novel example of facile environmentally benign synthetic concept for electrocatalytic tandem reaction strategy.

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