Metal-free one-pot synthesis of benzofurans

Ethyl acetohydroxamate was efficiently arylated with diaryliodonium salts at room temperature under transition-metal-free conditions. The obtained O-arylated products were reacted in situ with ketones under acidic conditions to yield substituted benzo[b]furans through oxime formation, [3,3]-rearrangement, and cyclization in a fast and operationally simple one-pot fashion without using excess reagents. Alternatively, the O-arylated products could be isolated or transformed in situ to aryloxyamines or O-arylaldoximes. The methodology was applied to the synthesis of Stemofuran A and the formal syntheses of Coumestan, Eupomatenoid 6, and (+)-machaeriol B.