Rhodium(iii)-catalysed decarbonylative annulation through C-H activation: expedient access to aminoisocoumarins by weak coordination.

Rhodium-catalysed decarbonylative annulation of isatoic anhydrides with alkynes through C-H activation for the synthesis of aminoisocoumarins was developed. This enables the gram-scale transformation to iodoisocoumarin which is a vital building block in transition-metal-catalysed cross couplings. These compounds exhibit blue-emitting luminescence properties.