Cobalt-Catalyzed Decarboxylative 2-Benzoylation of Oxazoles and Thiazoles with α-Oxocarboxylic Acids.

Cobalt-catalyzed decarboxylative cross-coupling of oxazoles and thiazoles with α-oxocarboxylic acids was developed through an sp(2) C-H bond functionalization process. This work represents the first example of cobalt-catalyzed decarboxylative C-H bond functionalization and provides an efficient means of building some important bioactive heteroaryl ketone derivatives.