2-Alkyl-substituted benzo furans

A palladium-catalyzed one-step synthesis of dihydrobenzo[fc]furan-based fused aromatic heterocycles from bifunctional bromoenoates or bromoalkyl indoles and iodoarenes was reported, and an example is provided in the scheme below <060L3601>. 2-Alkyl- or 2-aryl-substituted benzo[ >]furans were synthesized by a copper-TMEDA catalyzed intramolecular annulation from the corresponding ketones <06OL1467>. 

Other parameters of the palladium(n)-catalysed benzofuran synthesis were explored. Ultimately, it was found that the ideal system employed a 2 1 ligand/palladium ratio (10mol% Pd(OAc)2 and 20mol% ethyl nicotinate) and a substoichiometric amount (20mol%) of NaOAc at 100 °C. With this system in hand, a variety of substituted benzo-furans were accessed (Figure 9.7). The reaction was limited to electron-rich aryl systems the palladation event required a sufficiently nucleophilic arene in order to occur. The aryl subunit, however, tolerated an array of alkyl and alkoxy substitution patterns within the... 

The mass spectrum of 2-pyrone shows an abundant molecular ion and a very prominent ion due to loss of CO and formation of the furan radical cation. Loss of CO from 4-pyrone, on the other hand, is almost negligible, and the retro-Diels-Alder fragmentation pathway dominates. In alkyl-substituted 2-pyrones loss of CO is followed by loss of a hydrogen atom from the alkyl substituent and ring expansion of the resultant cation to the very stable pyrylium cation. Similar trends are observed with the benzo analogues of the pyrones, although in some cases both modes of fragmentation are observed. Thus, coumarins. 

Synthesis of 2-alkyl- or 2-aryl-substituted benzo[b]furans has been reported, involving a CuITMEDA complex which catalyzes the transformation of readily available ketone derivatives into the corresponding benzofurans in good-to-excellent yields in water (Eq. 6.13).29... 

Benzofuran-3(2/f)-ones (396) exist in the keto form but undergo ready enolization. Acetylation with acetic anhydride and sodium acetate affords 3-acetoxybenzo[6]furans, but reaction under acidic conditions usually supplies these products admixed with 3-acetoxy-2-acetylbenzo[6]furans. Alkylation usually furnishes a mixture of O- and C-alkylated products. 3-Acetoxy-6-methoxy-4-methylbenzo[6]furan, on Vilsmeier reaction, supplies the 3-chlorobenzo[6]furan-2-carbaldehyde, the product expected from an enolizable ketone (72AJC545). Benzofuran-3(2//)-ones react normally with carbonyl reagents. Grignard reagents react in the expected way and dehydration of the intermediate affords a 3-substituted benzo[6]furan. The methylene group is reactive so that self condensation, condensation with aldehydes and ketones and reaction with Michael acceptors all occur readily. 

Benzo[6]furan may be alkylated with t- butyl chloride and zinc chloride, the products being the 2- and 3-substituted compounds in the ratio 1 2. Benzo[6]furan is chloromethylated at the 2-position. 2-Methyl- and 2-phenyl-benzo[ ]furan are chloromethylated in the 3-position. 

Condensation of salicylaldehyde and its derivatives with a variety of esters of chloroacetic acids in the presence of TBAB led to the synthesis of benzo[b]furans by means of a solid-liquid PTC reaction under the action of microwave irradiation [39]. This was a modification of one of the most popular routes to substituted benzo[b]furans, i.e. O-alkylation of O-hydroxylated aromatic carbonyl compounds with a-halogenated carbonyl compounds then intramolecular condensation. The mixture of aldehydes and chloroacetic acid esters were absorbed on potassium carbonate then irradiated in an open vessel in a domestic MW oven for 8-10 min (Eq. 26). 

III. Benzo[f]furan and Its Alkyl- and Monoaryl-Substituted Derivatives.142... 

The ring closure of orf/io-substituted phenols is a route to production of benzo[6]furans on an industrial scale. The natural benzo[6 ]furan derivatives karanjin, pongapin, khellin and visnagin have been prepared via the respective o-hydroxyarylacetaldehydes, whilst an extension to the cyclization of o-hydroxybenzyl alkyl ketones has made it possible to synthesize polycyclic benzo[6]furans under the influence of demethylating and dehydrating media. Pterocarpans have been synthesized from suitable isoflavones by this route. 

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