A series of ferrocenyl oxindoles with potential anticancer activity were prepared from the reactions of substituted oxindoles and ferrocenylcarboxyaldehyde in the presence of KOH as catalyst. The products were characterized by spectral data including ¹H and 13C NMR, IR and mass spectrometry. The E and Z configurations were established by nOe or NOESY experiments.
ferrocenyl oxindoles; oxindoles; ferrocenecarboxyaldehyde