Deacylation-Aided C─H Alkylative Annulation through C─C Cleavage of Unstrained Ketones

Arene- and heteroarene-fused rings are pervasive in biologically active molecules. Direct annulation between a C─H bond on the aromatic core and a tethered alkyl moiety provides a straightforward approach to access these scaffolds; however, such a strategy is often hampered by the need of special reactive groups and/or less compatible cyclization conditions. It would be synthetically appealing if a common native functional group can be used as a handle to enable a general C─H annulation with diverse aromatic rings. Here, we show a deacylative annulation strategy for preparing a large variety of aromatic-fused rings from linear simple ketone precursors. The reaction starts with homolytic cleavage of the ketone α C─C bond via a pre-aromatic intermediate, followed by a radical-mediated dehydrogenative cyclization. Using widely available ketones as the robust radical precursors, this deconstructive approach allows streamlined assembly of complex polycyclic structures with broad functional group tolerance.