Carbazole alkaloids. IV.

Abstract

The European dye stuff industry originally provided the main stimulus for development of the chemistry of carbazoles since the discovery of the first member of the group, carbazole (1) from coal tar in 1872 by Graebe and Glazer (35). The isolation of carbazole as a degradation product of strychnine (2) by Clemo and Perkin (18) in 1924 provided further impetus for progress in the chemistry of carbazoles. N-Vinylcarbazole (3) was subsequently synthesised (12) and polymers based on vinyl carbazoles were developed subsequently (95) with the dye stuff industries and polymer industry contributing largely to further development of the chemistry of carbazoles up to 1960. The discovery of the first naturally occurring carbazole, the alkaloid murrayanine (4)* from Murraya koinigii Spreng; may be considered a further landmark in development of the chemistry and biology of carbazoles; the report on its structure was, however, published only in 1965 (12). Carbazole, methylcarbazole and dimethylcarbazole were isolated from soil humus in 1967 by Haworth et al. (14). More recently there has been added interest in the chemistry of carbazoles due to their use in electrophotography and related areas.