A methodology for the direct introduction of the trifluoromethyl group on to indole scaffolds is presented. The procedure involves the use of sodium trifluoromethylsulfinate (Langlois reagent) as the source of the trifluoromethyl radical, and is performed photochemically with 2-tert-butylanthraquinone as a photocatalyst. The reaction has also been probed computationally. Reaction kinetics and molecular orbital analyses from our quantum chemical computations successfully predict and rationalize the formation of the experimentally observed product and, in the case of 1-methylbenzimidazole, even reproduce the same qualitative trends in regioisomer preference.

提出了将三氟甲基直接引入到吲哚支架上的方法。该方法涉及使用三氟甲基亚磺酸钠（Langlois试剂）作为三氟甲基基团的来源，并且以2-叔丁基蒽醌为光催化剂进行光化学反应。该反应也已经在计算上进行了探索。通过我们的量子化学计算，反应动力学和分子轨道分析成功地预测并合理化了实验观察到的产物的形成，并且在1-甲基苯并咪唑的情况下，甚至在区域异构体偏好方面也再现了相同的定性趋势。