DBU/AgOTf Relay‐Catalysis Enabled One‐Pot Synthesis of 1,3‐Dihydroisobenzofurans and Its Conversion to Indanones

Abstract A DBU/AgOTf relay‐catalyzed one‐pot reaction of 2‐alkynylbenzaldehydes and α ‐diazo esters for the efficient construction of 1,3‐dihydroisobenzofuran derivatives has been documented. This protocol can tolerate a wide range of substrates and its scalability is demonstrated by the gram‐scale reaction. Moreover, the obtained 1,3‐dihydroisobenzofurans can be converted to indanone derivatives by a AgOTf‐catalyzed ring recombination process. Both of the resulting products, 1,3‐dihydroisobenzofurans and indanones, are important structural units of a variety of pharmaceuticals and natural products, and their structures are clearly confirmed by single crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. magnified image