Ni-Catalyzed Reductive Arylalkenylation of Alkynes for the Selective Synthesis of Polysubstituted Naphthalenes

Org Lett. 2022 Jul 29;24(29):5386-5390. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.2c02068. Epub 2022 Jul 20.

Abstract

A Ni-catalyzed reductive arylalkenylation of alkynes with 1-bromo-2-(2-chlorovinyl)arenes in the presence of zinc powder has been developed. This base-free cyclization provides a novel protocol for the selective synthesis of 2-trifluoromethyl naphthalenes and ethyl 2-naphthoates from simple starting materials in moderate to good yields with excellent tolerance of functional groups.