A new synthesis of Tyrian purple (6,6’-dibromoindigo) and its corresponding sulfonate salts

• Holly Helmers,
• Mark Horton,
• Julie Concepcion,
• Jeffrey Bjorklund and
• Nicholas C. Boaz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 167–174, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.10

• Holly Helmers Mark Horton Julie Concepcion Jeffrey Bjorklund Nicholas C. Boaz Department of Chemistry, North Central College, 121 S. Loomis Street, Naperville, IL 60540, USA 10.3762/bjoc.22.10 Abstract 6,6’-Dibromoindigo is the major component of a historic pigment, famous since ancient times

• , known as Tyrian purple. In this work, we report a new strategy for the synthesis of 6,6’-dibromoindigo in four steps from p-bromotoluene in 14.5% overall yield. A key improvement in the reported synthesis is the oxidation of the benzylic methyl group of 4-bromo-2-nitrotoluene to 4-bromo-2

• -nitrobenzaldehyde, which is accomplished by benzylic bromination followed by a Kornblum oxidation. This gentle oxidation avoids the need for chromium trioxide-mediated or nitrone-based methods. While other published syntheses of 6,6’-dibromoindigo have resulted in higher overall yields, our approach offers the