Construction of benzothiophene fused pyrrolidone in water via a catalyst-free process and a mechanism study

A novel three-component domino reaction towards benzothiophene fused pyrrolidone derivatives was developed in an environmentally benign manner. The reaction proceeded well in aqueous media, and delivered the desired products in high yields with excellent selectivity. Density functional calculations located a multi-step reaction pathway and identified the intramolecular nucleophilic addition step to be the rate-determining step.