Rhodium-catalyzed synthesis of indenols by regioselective coupling of alkynes with ortho-carbonylated arylboronic acids

A rhodium/diene-catalyzed regioselective synthesis of indenols has been developed through the coupling of alkynes with ortho-carbonylated arylboronic acids. These reactions proceed under mild conditions in uniformly high yield and regioselectivity. The reaction has also been applied to its asymmetric variant by the use of chiral diene ligands to achieve high enantioselectivity.