PhICl-Mediated Regioselective and Electrophilic Oxythio/Selenocyanation of -(1-Alkynyl)benzoates: Access to Biologically Active S/SeCN-Containing Isocoumarins.

The application of PhICl/NHSCN and PhICl/KSeCN reagent systems to the synthesis of the biologically active S/SeCN-containing isocoumarins a process involving thio/selenocyanation, enabled by thio/selenocyanogen chloride generated , followed with an intramolecular lactonization was realized. Gram-scale synthesis, further derivatization to access C4 thio/selenocyanated Xyridin A and anti-tumor activities of the obtained products highlight the potential use of this method.