Multicomponent Synthesis of Fluorescent Thiazole–Indole Hybrids and Thiazole-Based Novel Polymers

Herein, we report an efficient multicomponent reaction for the synthesis of trisubstituted thiazoles involving a one-pot C–C, C–N, and C–S bond-forming process from the readily available starting materials. The reaction of arylglyoxal, indole, and aryl thioamides in the acetic acid medium under sealed heating conditions provided 3-(2,4-diarylthiazol-5-yl)-1H-indoles (4) in good to excellent yields. Using a similar reaction strategy, the reaction of arylglyoxal, aryl thioamide, and 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone provided structurally interesting bis-thiazoles having dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone linker (9). All of the products were fully characterized by spectroscopic techniques. We also recorded single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) of compounds 4b and 9a for unambiguous structure determination. Indole-linked trisubstituted thiazoles (4) exhibit prominent fluorescence properties. The relative fluorescence quantum yields of all of the thiazole-linked indoles were measured in the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) medium with respect to quinine sulfate in 0.1 M H2SO4 as reference. The scope of this reaction was further explored by preparing novel polymers 11a and 11b using naphthalene/benzene-1,4-bis(carbothioamide) in multicomponent polymerization.