Palladium-catalyzed direct construction of oxazoline-containing polycyclic scaffolds via tandem addition/cyclization of nitriles and arylboronic acids

Abstract

An efficient construction of oxazoline-containing polycyclic scaffolds is presented through a Pd-catalyzed addition/cyclization of (hetero)arene tethered O-acyl cyanohydrin units and arylboronic acids. Diverse oxazoline-containing polycyclic compounds can be prepared in good to high yields under mild reaction conditions. This method can be extended to prepare multi-substituted polycyclic heterocyclic compounds via a Pd-catalyzed addition/cyclization/arylation tandem sequence using arylboronic acid and different heteroarene scaffolds such as thiophene, pyrrole and furan analogues.