Palladium(0)-catalyzed regioselective and multicomponent synthesis of 1,2,3-trisubstituted 1H-indenes.

A multicomponent synthesis of biologically important indenes bearing three substituent groups at the 1-, 2-, and 3-positions from available o-ethynylbenzaldehyde derivatives and organoboron reagents under palladium(0) catalysis is described. A two-component coupling reaction in methanol provides 1H-indenols, whereas a three-component reaction involving secondary aliphatic amines as the third component in DMF affords 1H-indenamines. This method allows combinatorial preparation of unsymmetrically substituted 1H-indenes that cannot be prepared via previous synthetic routes.