An masking strategy enables radical monodecarboxylative C-C bond coupling of malonic acid derivatives.

The utilization of malonic acids in radical decarboxylative functionalization is still underexploited, and the few existing examples are primarily limited to bisdecarboxylative functionalization. While radical monodecarboxylative functionalization is highly desirable, it is challenging because of the difficulty in suppressing the second radical decarboxylation step. Herein, we report the successful radical monodecarboxylative C-C bond coupling of malonic acids with ethynylbenziodoxolone (EBX) reagents enabled by an masking strategy, affording synthetically useful 2(3)-furanones in satisfactory yields.