Benzofurans alkene coupling reactions

Heteroaromatic compounds show similar behavior to benzene derivatives. Furan, pyrrole, thiophene, benzofuran, indole, benzothiophene, and their related compounds undergo CDC reactions with alkenes. In the case of furan, the coupling reactions with acrylates, acrylonitrile, styrenes, and... 

Indole and isoquinolone nuclei are prominent structural units frequently found in numerous natural products and pharmaceutically active compounds. Thus, the search for new methodologies to obtain these scaffolds with different substitution patterns is a current major objective in organic synthesis. Similar to benzofuran synthesis, Aluraez et al. observed that the palladium-catalyzed cascade intramolecular alkyne aminopaUadation/intermolecular Heck-type coupling reaction under oxidative conditions is an efficient methodology for the synthesis of indole 217 and isoquinolone 219 derivatives, starting from readily available aniline 216 or benzamide 218 substrates and functional alkenes [77] (Scheme 6.60). 

The arene substrates are not limited to simple benzene derivatives. A variety of het-eroarenes can also participate in alkene arylations to generate the desired coupling products. Stoichiometric oxidative coupling of aromatic heterocycles such as furan, thiophene, selenophene, A-methylpyrrole, benzofiiran and benzothiophene with a variety of alkenes, including acrylonitrile, styrene and methyl acrylate, have been extensively studied by Fu-jiwara and coworkers [8]. Furan, thiophene, selenophene and A-methylpyrrole are easily alkenylated with alkenes to give 2-alkenylated and 2,5-dialkenylated heterocycles in relatively low yields (3 6%) [8a], while the reactions of benzofuran and benzothiophene with alkenes produced a mixture of 2- and 3-alkenylated products [8b]. 

The CDC reaction of arenes and alkenes can be applied to heteroaromatic compounds. Coupling with furan, thiophene, pyrrole, benzofuran. 

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