Synthesis of heterocyclic compounds through palladium-catalyzed C-H cyclization processes

Herein, we describe our development of synthetic methods for heterocyclic compounds based on the palladium-catalyzed carbon-hydrogen bond (C-H) functionalization/intramolecular carbon-heteroatom (nitrogen or sulfur) bond formation process. By this C-H cyclization method, we efficiently prepared various N-heterocycles, including indazoles, indoles, and 2-quinolinones, as well as S-heterocycles such as benzothiazoles and benzo[b]thiophenes. Yields are typically good to high and good functional-group tolerance is observed for each process, thereby indicating that the method provides a novel, highly applicable synthetic route to the abovementioned biologically important heterocyclic frameworks. As an application of this approach, an auto-tandem-type, one-pot process involving the oxidative Heck reaction and subsequent C-H cyclization using cinnamamides and arylboronic acids as starting materials in the presence of a palladium catalyst was also developed for the rapid construction of the 2-quinolinone nucleus.