Microwave-assisted carbonylation and cyclocarbonylation of aryl iodides under ligand free heterogeneous catalysis.

Carbonylation reaction is a very effective transformation for the synthesis of esters, amides, and heterocyclic compounds. Heterogeneous catalyzed carbonylation reactions can be carried out using the association of Pd/C and microwave dielectric heating. Alkoxy carbonylation can be performed with stoichiometric amounts of different primary and secondary alcohols in DMF in the presence of DBU as the base. Analogously, iodobenzene, CO, and amines can be transformed into the corresponding amides in good yields after a simple filtration to remove the catalyst. Pd/C was also successfully employed in microwave-assisted cyclocarbonylation of o-iodoaniline with acyl chlorides to give benzoxazinones. Pd/C can be recycled two times without a considerable difference in the reaction yields.