Catalytic formation of ketones from unactivated esters through rhodium chelation-assisted C-O bond activation.

A new method for building aryl aryl ketones containing heterocyclic rings through chelation-assisted C-O bond activation catalyzed by a rhodium complex has been developed. In this reaction, methyl quinoline-8-carboxylate, methyl quinoxaline-5-carboxylate, and their derivatives were reacted with an excess amount of a substituted phenyl boronic acid in the presence of a rhodium(I) complex to give substituted phenyl(quinolin-8-yl)methanone, phenylquinoxalin-5-ylmethanone, and their derivatives in medium to high yields. The current method offers a highly favorable synthetic pathway to efficiently build related drugs with an 8-benzoylquinoline core structure.