A biomimetic approach to dihydrobenzofuran synthesis

A method for an acid-catalyzed construction of dihydrobenzofuran heterocycles (14) from 2-(2'-hydroxyethyl)quinone precursors 10 is presented. The putative oxonium ion intermediate 17 formed by an intramolecular hydroxyl cyclization followed by dehydration is reduced in situ by an added dihydroquinone source. Good to excellent yields of cyclized products are realized in all cases except for highly electron deficient systems, and these suffer reduction prior to oxonium ion formation. All products are monomeric and derived from a two-electron transfer except for 10 g, which affords the dimeric dihydrobenzofuran. The amount of cyclization or reduction product is governed by the HOMO/LUMO gap between the quinone substrate and the dihydroquinone additive, and the product distribution can be adjusted by modifying the electronic properties of the added reducing agent.