Over the past two decades, transition-metal-catalyzed C–H activation and the subsequent
oxidative cyclization with alkynes or their surrogates has emerged as a powerful synthetic
tool for fused heteroaromatics. We report a Rh(III)-catalyzed annulation and ring-opening
cascade reaction with 2-aryloxazolines. By utilizing a vinyl selenone as an oxidizing
acetylene surrogate, the target three-component coupling products were obtained in
high yields without using a stoichiometric amount of external oxidant.
Key words
C–H bond activation - oxazolines - annulation - rhodium catalysis - vinylselenones
- cascade reaction