A visible-light-promoted merged gold/photoredox catalyzed ipso-arylative cyclization has been reported. For instance, the reaction of aryl-alkynoates and N-arylpropiolamides with aryldiazonium salts in the presence of catalytic amounts of [(4-OCH)CH]PAuCl and Ru(bpy)(PF) under irradiation using a 32 W CFL bulb gave arylated spirocarbocycles in moderate to good yields.

A highly efficient and regioselective palladium-catalyzed annulation protocol for a series of linear and terminally substituted 1,2- and 1,3-di(heteroaryl)alkanes to the corresponding polyheterocyclic arenes is reported. Herein, intramolecular oxidative coupling involving double C(sp2)–H bond functionalization provides a feasible access to biheteroaryl systems annulated to a six-membered ring. The methodology is not restricted to six-membered annulations and was extended to the synthesis of compounds with a seven-membered ring and biheteroaryl core.

The synthesis of small organic molecules as probes for discovering new therapeutic agents has been an important aspect of chemical biology. One of the best ways to access collections of small molecules is to use various techniques in diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS). Recently, a new form of DOS, namely "relay catalytic branching cascades" (RCBCs), has been introduced, wherein a common type of starting material reacts with several scaffold-building agents (SBAs) to obtain structurally diverse molecular scaffolds under the influence of catalysts. Herein, the RCBC reaction of a common type of substrate with SBAs is reported to give two different types of molecular scaffolds and their formation is essentially dependent on the type of catalyst used.

Diversity oriented synthesis (DOS) aims to generate small molecules with great structural diversity in an efficient manner. Recent years have witnessed significant achievements in the field, which help to validate the usefulness of DOS as a tool for the discovery of novel, biologically interesting small molecules. Catalytic branching cascades have emerged as a promising strategy because of their potential to transform a common type of substrate into diverse and distinct molecular frameworks. The details of the concept are presented herein.