Palladium(0)-Catalyzed Intermolecular Carbocyclization of (1,n)-Diynes and Bromophenols: An Efficient Route to Tricyclic Scaffolds.

A novel palladium(0)-catalyzed dearomative cyclization reaction of bromophenols with (1,n)-diynes has been developed for building two new types of tricyclic architectures containing a quaternary carbon center. This method employs inexpensive bromophenols, and easily accessible tethered diynes. It exhibits a broad substrate scope and tolerates various functional groups. Preliminary results with commercially available chiral ligands indicate that enantioselective variants are feasible for both cyclization processes.