Rhenium‐Catalyzed Arylation–Acyl Cyclization between Enol Lactones and Organomagnesium Halides: Facile Synthesis of Indenones

Abstract

AbstractA set of rhenium‐catalyzed arylation–acyl cyclizations between (hetero)arylmagnesium halides and enol lactones through a cascade C(sp2)−C(sp2)/C(sp2)−C(sp2) bond formation under mild reaction conditions has been developed. Indeed, a wide range of functional groups on both organomagnesium halides and enol lactones is well tolerated by the simple rhenium catalysis, thus furnishing polyfunctionalized indenones in one‐pot fashion and with complete control of the regioselectivity. Moreover, this approach also provides a straightforward synthetic route to neolignan and (iso)pauciflorol F. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that the reaction involves a sequence of syn‐carborhenation and intramolecular nucleophilic addition.