Transition Metal-Free Carbazole Synthesis from Arylureas and Cyclohexanones.

An efficient strategy for carbazole synthesis from arylureas and cyclohexanones under transition metal-free conditions has been developed. The combined use of potassium iodide and iodine could significantly improve the reaction efficiency to provide 2,6-disubstituted 9-arylcarbazoles in moderate to good yields. In this kind of transformation, the whole carbazole moiety (except the nitrogen atom) comes from two equivalents of cyclohexanones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]