Design of new anti-Alzheimer drugs: ring-expansion synthesis and synchrotron X-ray diffraction study of dimethyl 4-ethyl-11-fluoro-1,4,5,6,7,8-hexa-hydro-azonino[5,6-b]indole-2,3-di-carboxyl-ate.

The title compound, C20H23FN2O4, is the product of a ring-expansion reaction from a seven-membered fluorinated hexa-hydro-azepine to a nine-membered azonine. The nine-membered azonine ring of the mol-ecule adopts a chair-boat conformation. The C=C and C-N bond lengths [1.366 (3) and 1.407 (3) Å, respectively] indicate the presence of conjugation within the enamine CH2-C=C-N-CH2 fragment. The substituent planes at the C=C double bond of this fragment are twisted by 16.0 (3)° as a result of steric effects. The amine N(Et) N atom has a trigonal-pyramidal configuration (sum of the bond angles = 346.3°). The inter-planar angle between the two carboxyl-ate substituents is 60.39 (8)°. In the crystal, mol-ecules form zigzag chains along [010] by inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions, which are further packed in stacks toward [100]. The title azonino-indole might be considered as a candidate for the design of new Alzheimer drugs.