Silver-Catalysed Hydroarylation of Highly Substituted Styrenes

Hydroarylation is an effective strategy to rapidly increase the complexity of organic structures by transforming flat alkene moieties into three-dimensional frameworks. Many strategies have already been developed to achieve the hydroarylation of styrenes, however most of these reports examine the hydroarylation of unpolar, beta-mono- or beta-unsubstituted styrenes, while exploring mainly electron-rich benzene nucleophiles. Herein, we report a mild and general catalytic system for the selective hydroheteroarylation of multiply substituted styrenes and heteroaromatic styrenes. Mechanistic analysis of the reaction led to the discovery of commercially available 2,2 ':5 ',2 ''-terthiophene as a key reagent.

Automated summary

The research presents a mild and general catalytic system for the selective hydroheteroarylation of multiply substituted styrenes and heteroaromatic styrenes. The discovery of commercially available 2,2':5',2''-terthiophene as a key reagent opens up potential significant applications in organic synthesis.