Combining photochemistry and catalysis: rapid access to sp3 - rich polyheterocycles from simple pyrroles

Chem Sci. 2016 Mar 1;7(3):2302-2307. doi: 10.1039/c5sc04062k. Epub 2016 Jan 4.

Abstract

Use of FEP flow reactor technology allows access to gram quantities of photochemically-generated tricyclic aziridines. These undergo a range of novel palladium-catalyzed ring-opening and cycloaddition reactions, likely driven by their inherent strain, allowing incorporation of further functionality by fusing additional heterocyclic rings onto these already complex polycyclic cores. This rapid, 2-step access to complex sp3 - rich heterocycles should be of interest to those in the fields of drug discovery and natural product synthesis.