A series of 1,2‐ and 1,4‐dihydroquinolines has been successfully prepared. The Pd‐catalyzed intramolecular N‐arylation of Z‐enamines, formally prepared by the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons olefination, proceeded efficiently to furnish the cyclized products. Depending on the cyclization conditions, substituted 1,4‐dihydroquinolines and further isomerized 1,2‐dihydroquinolines were independently obtained in high yields with an excellent control of isomerization of the double bond.
A direct method for the arylation of 1,2‐azolo[1,5‐a]pyridines has been developed. In the process, the fused pyridines react with aryl halides in the presence of the palladium complex Pd(OAc)2(Phen) as a catalyst and copper(I) chloride (CuCl) as a Lewis acid to form arylated derivatives. While pyrazolo[1,5‐a]pyridines and [1,2,4]triazolo[1,5‐a]pyridines are arylated at ortho‐positions of their pyridine rings using this method, in situ ring‐opening of the formed C‐7 arylated [1,5‐a]pyridine takes place to generate the 2,6‐disubstituted pyridine. Also, upon treatment with lithium diisopropylamide (LDA), C‐7 arylated pyrazolo[1,5‐a]pyridine‐3‐carboxylates react to produce diversely substituted 2,6‐disubstituted pyridines. Finally, a sequential C‐3 arylation was accomplished through a two‐step sequence involving hydrolysis of pyrazolo[1,5‐a]pyridine‐3‐carboxylates followed by the bimetallic Pd/Cu‐catalyzed decarboxylative coupling reaction with aryl bromide.
In recent years, environmental and economic reasons have motivated the development of transition metal‐free carbon‐carbon bond forming reactions and some excellent reviews have covered this research area of particular interest for the pharmaceutical industry. However, none of these reviews has been specifically dedicated to summarize and discuss the results achieved in the rapidly growing field of the transition metal‐free direct (hetero)arylation reactions of heteroarenes. This review, which covers the literature from 2008 to 2014, aims to provide a thorough insight into the synthetic and mechanistic aspects of these atom economic and environmentally benign reactions also highlighting their advantages and possible disadvantages compared to conventional methods for the synthesis of arylheteroarenes and biheteroaryls via transition metal‐catalyzed reactions.
The first room‐temperature copper‐catalyzed arylations of dimethylamine and methylamine in neat water have been developed. Using a combination of CuI and 6,7‐dihydroquinolin‐8(5 H)‐one oxime as catalyst, dimethylamine is arylated with various aryl halides to give the corresponding products in good to excellent yields. Further, this catalysis enables the selective arylation of methylamine to afford the high yields of monoarylated methylamines as the sole products.
Herein, we report on the sequential palladium‐catalyzed intermolecular followed by intramolecular direct arylations of 1‐(2‐bromobenzyl)imidazoles. We found that, in the presence of 1 mol% palladium acetate and potassium acetate as base, the intermolecular reaction between 1‐(2‐bromobenzyl)imidazole derivatives and electron‐deficient aryl bromides proceeded faster than the intramolecular reaction, allowing us to prepare medium‐size polycyclic imidazoles after a second Pd‐catalyzed intramolecular arylation. These iterative direct arylations allowed the synthesis of fused nitrogen‐containing heterocycles with a 5‐ or 7‐membered‐ring in only two steps. Some reactions have also been performed as a one‐pot procedure using 2 mol% of palladium acetate in the presence of a larger amount of base (3 equiv.).
An intramolecular palladium(II)‐catalyzed dearomative arylation reaction of indoles via C H bond functionalization was developed, providing access to structurally novel spiroindolenines with moderate to good yields. A one‐pot process for the synthesis of spiroindoline derivatives was also realized.
A convenient photochemical flow protocol for the formation of aryl‐carbon bonds via photogenerated phenyl cations has been developed. A wide range of phenylated products, including biaryls, allylarenes, 2‐arylacetals and benzyl γ‐lactones, was smoothly synthesized in satisfactory yields under metal‐free conditions. The adoption of a flow reactor often allowed us to adopt higher concentrations of substrates and shorter irradiation times compared to those usually employed in batch systems.
