Au-catalyzed neighboring hydroxymethyl group directed cycloaddition of alkyne with diazadienes: Synthesis of polysubstituted pyrroles

Polysubstituted pyrroles are very important scaffolds in many bioactive natural products and synthetic pharmaceuticals. Here, a new gold-catalyzed cycloaddition of alkynes with azadienes to access tetrasub-stituted pyrroles is demonstrated. The neighboring hydroxylmethyl group serves a very important direct-ing group through an addition/cycloaddition/elimination cascade. Diverse polysubstituted pyrroles were synthesized in good yields under mild conditions in one step, and tricyclic pyrrole containing heterocy-cles were easily obtained through derivatization.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.