Chemodivergent assembly of ortho-functionalized phenols with tunable selectivity via rhodium(III)-catalyzed and solvent-controlled C-H activation
Open Access
- 3 June 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Communications Chemistry
- Vol. 4 (1), 1-12
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-021-00518-x
Abstract
Ortho-functionalized phenols and their derivatives represent prominent structural motifs and building blocks in medicinal and synthetic chemistry. While numerous synthetic approaches exist, the development of atom-/step-economic and practical methods for the chemodivergent assembly of diverse ortho-functionalized phenols based on fixed catalyst/substrates remains challenging. Here, by selectively controlling the reactivities of different sites in methylenecyclopropane core, Rh(III)-catalyzed redox-neutral and tunable C-H functionalizations of N-phenoxyacetamides are realized, providing access to both ortho-functionalized phenols bearing linear dienyl, cyclopropyl or allyl ether groups, and cyclic 3-ethylidene 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran frameworks under mild cross-coupling conditions. These divergent transformations feature broad substrate compatibility, synthetic applications and excellent site-/regio-/chemoselectivity. Experimental and computational mechanistic studies reveal that distinct catalytic modes involving selective β-C/β-H elimination, π-allylation, inter-/intramolecular nucleophilic substitution cascade and β-H’ elimination processes enabled by different solvent-mediated and coupling partner-controlled reaction conditions are crucial for achieving chemodivergence, among which a structurally distinct Rh(V) species derived from a five-membered rhodacycle is proposed as the corresponding active intermediates.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (21877020)
- Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2018A030313274, 2019A1515010935)
- Guangdong Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar
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