Direct Acyl Radical Addition to 2H-Indazoles Using Ag-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Cross-Coupling of α-Keto Acids

A direct acyl radical addition to 2H-indazoles has been achieved for the first time, where the less-aromatic quinonoid 2H-indazoles readily accepted radical species to the C-3 position. Motivated by the lack of direct acylation strategy for 2H-indazoles, the current method utilizes the radical acceptability of 2H-indazoles, discovering an ambient temperature reaction to provide facile access to a diverse array of 3-acyl-2H-indazoles with three points of structural diversification in 25%–83% yields.