Ni-Catalyzed Cycloisomerization between 3-Phenoxy Acrylic Acid Derivatives and Alkynes via Intramolecular Cleavage and Formation of the C-O Bond To Give 2,3-Disubstituted Benzofurans.

Reactions based on transition-metal-catalyzed C-O bond cleavage have attracted much attention as a new synthetic method. Until now, several intermolecular reactions via C-O bond cleavage of aryl ethers, alkenyl ethers, esters, and others have been reported. Here we report an unprecedented C-O bond cleavage of 3-phenoxy acrylic acid derivatives, followed by intramolecular C-O bond formation with alkynes. This reaction gave 2,3-disubstituted benzofurans having useful functional groups-silyl substituents and acrylic acid derivatives-at the 2- and 3-positions, respectively. This report also described theoretical (DFT) insights into the mechanism.