An Electrophilic Approach to the Palladium-Catalyzed Carbonylative C-H Functionalization of Heterocycles

A palladium-catalyzed approach to intermolecular carbonylative C H functionalization is described. This transformation is mediated by (PBu3)-Bu-t-coordinated palladium catalyst and allows the derivatization of a diverse range of heterocycles, including pyrroles, indoles, imidazoles, benzoxazoles, and furans. Preliminary studies suggest that this reaction may proceed via the catalytic formation of highly electrophilic intermediates. Overall, this provides with an atom-economical and general synthetic route to generate aryl-(hetero)aryl ketones using stable reagents (aryl iodides and CO) and without the typical need to exploit pre-metalated heterocycles in carbonylative coupling chemistry.