Rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation in fused azapolycycles synthesis

N-Heterocycles, including fused ones, have proven to be an important class of compounds since they possess biological and pharmacological activities themselves and serve as valuable intermediates for synthetic drug discovery. My interest in the synthesis of these compounds stems from studies dealing with the hydroformylation (oxo) of olefins. The dihydroindolizines and benzofused ones are easily generated via rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of N-allylpyrroles and indoles: the butanal intermediate undergoes an intramolecular cyclodehydration giving the final polycyclic compound. This chapter reports my results in the area of the conversions of oxo aldehydes with additional C,C-bond-forming reactions together with relevant work from other laboratories on additional C,N-bond-forming reactions, encountered in the field of Azapolycycles synthesis over the last 5 years or so. The intramolecular sequences for polycylization will be especially emphasized using rhodium complexes to effect these transformations, under both conventional and microwave heating.