Direct Access to Furoindolines by Palladium-Catalyzed Intermolecular Carboamination

A versatile Pd-catalyzed intermolecular syncarboamination of dihydrofurans giving access to the ubiquitous furoindoline motif is described. The efficiency of the process relies on the use of Buchwald-type biarylphosphines and the perfect control for site-selectivity of Pd insertion across the C=C bond. A catalytic sequence consisting of Heck and carboamination cross-coupling reactions from readily available dihydrofurans affords-in usually high chemical yields and high levels of diastereocontrol-poly(hetero)cyclic compounds that would be difficult to access by established methods. Encouraging preliminary results for the enantioselective carboamination of 2,3-dihydrofurans are also disclosed.