A Palladium(II)-Catalyzed C-H Activation Cascade Sequence for Polyheterocycle Formation

Polyheterocycles are found in many natural products and are useful moieties in functional materials and drug design. As part of a program towards the synthesis of Stemona alkaloids, a novel palladium(II)-catalyzed C-H activation strategy for the construction of such systems has been developed. Starting from simple 1,3-dienyl-substituted heterocycles, a large range of polycyclic systems containing pyrrole, indole, furan and thiophene moieties can be synthesized in a single step. Don't overdo it: A palladium(II)-catalyzed C-H activation cascade sequence for the synthesis of polyheterocycles is reported. Aromatization of the initially formed dihydro species occurred with a quinone oxidant. In some cases the use of one equivalent of the oxidant enabled isolation of the dihydro species as a single isomer (see scheme; X=NMe, O, S).