Palladium-catalyzed construction of poly-substituted indolizinones

We have developed a highly efficient one-pot approach to poly-substituted indolizinones from tertiary propargylic alcohols by using a palladium-catalyzed domino reaction. This reaction is proposed to proceed via successive aminopalladation, reductive elimination, and 1,2-shift. While our previous effort to the same skeleton via 2-iodoindolizinones selected alpha,beta-unsaturated esters, terminal acetylenes, or boronic acids as coupling partners, this strategy introduces new functional groups at the C2 position of indolizinone core with (hetero)aryl halides or diallyl carbonate, expanding the substrate scope for decoration at the C2 site. Furthermore, a new preparation route to tertiary propargylic alcohols for this study is described to rapidly diversify the molecular framework. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.