A Palladium(II)-Catalyzed CH Activation Cascade Sequence for Polyheterocycle Formation

Polyheterocycles are found in many natural products and are useful moieties in functional materials and drug design. As part of a program towards the synthesis of Stemona alkaloids, a novel palladium(II)-catalyzed CH activation strategy for the construction of such systems has been developed. Starting from simple 1,3-dienyl-substituted heterocycles, a large range of polycyclic systems containing pyrrole, indole, furan and thiophene moieties can be synthesized in a single step.