The reactions of fluoroalkanesulfonyl azides 1 with carbazole derivatives have been studied in detail. At room temperature 1 reacted with 1,2,3,4-tetrahydrocarbazole 2 readily to afford ring-contraction spiroindole derivatives 3 together with an unexpected 4a-fluoroalkanesulfonylamino-1,2,3,4-tetra-hydrocarbazoles 4 . However, in the case of 9-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrocarbazole 5 , unexpected sulfonylamino migration occurred and a similar product 9-methyl-1-fluoroalkanesulfonylamino-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1 H-carbazoles 6 were obtained as major products in moderate yields. These new products were fully characterized by spectral methods and single X-ray diffraction analyses. Possible mechanisms for these reactions were proposed.
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