Iron-promoted carbonylation–rearrangement of α-aminoaryl-tethered alkylidenecyclopropanes with CO2: Facile synthesis of quinolinofurans

Herein, we report an iron-promoted carbonylation-rearrangement of α-aminoaryl-tethered alkylidene cyclopropanes with CO2 to generate quinolinofuran derivatives. A variety of quinolinofuran derivatives are obtained in moderate to excellent yields, and two promising luminescent material molecules have been synthesized using the developed method. The Lewis acid FeCl3 was introduced into this reaction, which effectively promoted the ring opening and rearrangement of cyclopropanes. This reaction features a broad substrate scope, satisfactory functional group tolerance, facile scalability, and easy derivatization of the products.