Rhodium(III)‐Catalyzed Redox‐Neutral Coupling of N‐Phenoxyacetamides and Alkynes with Tunable Selectivity

• DOI: 10.1002/ange.201300881
• Publication Date: 2013-04-24T12:31:10Z
• Authors: Guixia Liu; Yangyang Shen; Zhi Zhou; Xiyan Lu
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Give it a tweak: A novel oxidizing directing group was developed for a rhodium(III)-catalyzed CH functionalization of N-phenoxyacetamides with alkynes. A small change in the reaction conditions leads to either ortho-hydroxyphenyl-substituted enamides or cyclization to deliver benzofurans with high selectivity (see scheme; Cp*=C5 Me5 ).