Rh(III)-Catalyzed C-H Olefination Cascades to Divergently Construct Diverse Polyheterocycles by Tuning Manipulations of Directing Groups

Org Lett. 2021 Mar 5;23(5):1548-1553. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.0c04155. Epub 2021 Feb 19.

Abstract

Inspired by the diversity created by nature, organic chemists have been using a divergent strategy to improve the synthetic efficiency of diverse molecules. Transition-metal-catalyzed C-H functionalization has become one of the most straightforward, powerful, and atom-economical methods to construct complex scaffolds. However, C-H activation initiated divergent transformation to prepare diverse molecules is still limited. To address this challenge, we herein developed Rh(III)-catalyzed C-H olefination/annulation reaction cascades to divergently construct diverse polyheterocycles by tuning manipulations of directing groups (DGs). Up to 9 distinct scaffolds were creatively synthesized under simple conditions with good functional group tolerance, chemo-, and regioselectivity. Such a versatile strategy and its extension may encourage researchers to discover more promising manipulations of DGs for transition-metal-catalyzed C-H bond activation, making diverse available targets and materials that would have been previously out of range.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't