Exploring the influence of designer surfactant hydrophobicity in key C C/C N bond forming reactions

Designer micellar medium was explored for the transformation of diverse anilines to the corresponding densely substituted biologically relevant skatole derivatives in an aqueous medium via 5-exo-trig cyclization reaction. The scope of the reaction was extended to intermolecular Csp2-Csp2 and Csp2-N bond forming reactions in water. Systematic investigations revealed that altering hydrophobicity of surfactant influences the yield of both C C and C N bond forming reactions in water.