A visible-light-induced cascade reaction of etherification/C-C cyclization: efficient synthesis of dibenzo[b,d]oxepin-7(6H)-ones.

A visible-light-induced palladium-catalyzed cascade reaction was developed by etherification/C-C coupling cyclization of α-bromoacetophenones with phenols. A series of dibenzo[b,d]oxepin-7(6H)-one derivatives were efficiently synthesized by using this method in good yields. Furthermore, this method was applied to the synthesis of protosappanin A.

Synthesis of 8-azaprotosappanin A derivatives via intramolecular palladium-catalyzed ortho C-H activation/C-C cyclization and their antibacterial activity.

A novel synthetic protocol for the construction of eight-membered heterocycles by intramolecular palladium-catalyzed ortho C-H activation/C-C cyclization was proposed. With protosappanin A as the lead compound, 25 derivatives of 8-azaprotosappanin A were prepared in good yields by this protocol. Besides, a plausible reaction mechanism of the intramolecular cyclization was proposed.

Total synthesis of protosappanin A and its derivatives via palladium catalyzed ortho C-H activation/C-C cyclization under microwave irradiation.

A total synthesis method for protosappanin A, which is a complex natural product with many biological activities, was developed with 6 linear steps. Dibenzo[b,d]oxepinones as the key intermediates of the synthetic route were prepared by a palladium-catalyzed ortho C-H activation/C-C cyclization under microwave irradiation. 25 derivatives of protosappanin A were obtained.