Visible Light-Catalyzed Cascade Radical Cyclization of N‑Propargylindoles with Acyl Chlorides for the Synthesis of 2‑Acyl‑9H‑pyrrolo[1,2‑a]indoles

A novel and convenient visible light-catalyzed tandem radical cyclization of N-propargylindoles with acyl chlorides for accessing 2-acyl-9H-pyrrolo­[1,2-a]­indoles is established. This transformation involves sequential addition of the acyl radical to the carbon–carbon triple bond, intramolecular cyclization with the 2-position of indole, and isomerization of the carbon–carbon double bond. The experimental results show that this reaction contains a radical pathway and a radical chain process is not the major pathway for the formation of products.