Synthesis of Polysubstituted Pyrroles via Silver-Catalyzed Oxidative Radical Addition of Cyclopropanols to Imines

Org Lett. 2020 Oct 2;22(19):7542-7546. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.0c02735. Epub 2020 Sep 11.

Abstract

A silver-catalyzed formal [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, with cyclopropanols as a C3 subunit and imines as a two-atom subunit, is developed. The reaction takes place under mild conditions and produces a broad array of polysubstituted pyrroles in medium to high yields. It represents the first example of oxidative radical addition to imines, thus offering a new choice for the direct C-H functionalization of imines.