Hongjuan Shen, Junkai Fu, Hao Yuan, Jianxian Gong*, and Zhen Yang*
J. Org. Chem., 2016, 81, 10180–10192
A highly effective and straightforward method to construct a wide range of functionalized 2,3-disubstituted indoles has been developed. The method involves the tandem reaction of rhodium(II)-catalyzed denitrogenative annulation of triazole-based benzyl anilines and oxygen-mediated oxidative aromatization. The developed method can also be used to synthesize 2,3-disubstituted benzofurans by replacing the benzyl anilines with benzyl phenols.
