Arylation of furans

The arylation of furan by the Gomberg reaction has been carried out using a number of differently substituted diazonium salts. In... 

Only in a few arylations of furans are radicals clearly responsible, though many others are conventionally regarded as radical or radicaloid in character. Since there is often no definite evidence, we consider all arylations together for convenience. 

When furan or substituted furans were subjected to the classic oxidative coupling conditions [Pd(OAc)2 in refluxing HOAc], 2,2 -bifuran was the major product, whereas 2,3 -bifuran was a minor product [12,13]. Similar results were observed for the arylation of furans using Pd(OAc)2 [14]. The oxidative couplings of furan or benzo[i]furan with olefins also suffered from inefficiency [15]. These reactions consume at least one equivalent of palladium acetate, and therefore have limited synthetic utility. 

N. Aoyagi, Y. Palladium-catalyzed arylation of furan, thiophene, benzo[b]furan and ben-zo[b]thiophene. Heterocycles 1990, 33, 1951-1958. 

Arylation of furan and thiophene with arylhydrazine (40) and Mn(OAc)3 gives 2-aryl substituted furan and thiophene (41) as shown in eq. 5.22. 

Table 9.2 Representative examples of palladium-catalyzed direct arylations of furan (124), thiophene (125) and pyrrole (126).

Daugulis also showed that these conditions are suitable for C2-arylation of furans 7 with (hetero)aryl chlorides (Scheme 2) (2011JOC471). Substituted 2-(hetero)arylfurans 8 were acquired via 9 in moderate to good yield after 24 h reaction time. 

SCHEME 10.9 Daugulis C2-arylation of furan with activated aryl chlorides. 

Mercapto derivatives of furan, thiophene, selenophene (77ACS(B)198) and pyrrole (72AJC985) all exist predominantly in the thiol form. 2-Mercaptobenzothiophene is also a thiol (70JCS(C)243i) whereas 2-mercaptoindole is mainly indoline-2-thione (89) (69CPB550). The finely balanced nature of this system is indicated by the fact that a 3-aryl, but not a 3-alkyl, substituent will stabilize the 2-thiol form, whereas for 3-aryl-fV-methyl derivatives the 2-thione tautomer is preferred (71CC836). 

There are examples of preferential arylation of Af-substituted pyrroles, thiophenes and furans in the 2-position. A preparatively useful reaction of this type is the o-nitrophenylation of thiophene (Scheme 40). A phase transfer catalytic technique has been recommended for this reaction (77TL1871). 

There are reports of an increasing number of palladium-assisted reactions, in some of which the palladium has a catalytic function. Thus furan and thiophene undergo facile palladium-assisted alkenylation giving 2-substituted products. Benzo[6 Jfuran and TV- acetyl-indole yield cyclization products, dibenzofurans and carbazoles respectively, in addition to alkenylated products (8UOC851). The arylation of pyrroles can be effected by treatment with palladium acetate and an arene (Scheme 86) (81CC254). 

The approach also allows the synthesis of furans by employing ethoxymethylene malonate, followed by an eliminative decarboxylation. This method was used by Balme for a formal synthesis of the antitumor lignan burseran (6/1-294), starting from 6/1-290,6/1-291 and 6/1-292 via the furan 6/1-293 (Scheme 6/1.78) [139], Furans as 6/1-298 can also be obtained by Pd-catalyzed reaction of 2-propynyl-l,3-dicarbonyls 6/1-295 with aryl halides 6/1-296 in DMF, using potassium carbonate as base, as shown by Arcadi, Cacchi and coworkers (Scheme 6/1.79) [140]. 

The mechanism of epoxide formation (Scheme 7) has not been established but the intermediacy of nickel enolates and ensuing aldol type reactions are suspected28 (cf. Zn-mediated formation of furans from a-bromoketones29). A limitation on the synthesis is that R cannot be aryl for these cases, the products are 2,4-diarylfurans (see Section IV,B,1).30... 

The palladium-catalyzed arylation of alkenes by haloarenes, and applications in furan synthesis have been described earlier (see Eq. 14 in Section IV,B, 1). By employing o-aminoiodoarenes and appropriately substituted (Z)-alkenes it has proved possible to develop an efficient synthetic route to quinolin-2-ones (Scheme 140).213... 

A divergent protocol for a solid-phase synthesis of 3-substituted 2,5-biarylfurans was reported. Thus, reaction of furan zincate A with polymer bound aryl bromide or iodide provides resin intermediates 61. Subsequent bromination-Suzuki coupling reaction followed by further transformations gives rise to structurally diverse 2,3,5-trisubstituted furans 68 in good overall yields and chemical purities <00TL5447>. 

The next two examples illustrate intramolecular oxepine C-C bond formation of the furan precursors. Palladium catalyzed intramolecular arylation of 153... 

In regard to the importance of a diastereoselective synthesis of 5-[hydroxy(aryl) methyl]furan-2(5//)-ones, the Bi(OTf)3-4H20-catalyzed vinylogous Mukaiyama aldol has been investigated with 2-(trimethylsilyloxy)furans and various carbonyl compounds [146]. 

Diketones can be used as the common precursor for the synthesis of furan, pyrrole, and thiophenes. The treatment of 1,4-diketones with aryl amines under similar conditions results in the formation of the corresponding pyrrole derivatives. 

---