A convenient one-pot synthesis of 2-aroylindoles using a domino palladium-catalyzed C,N-coupling/carbonylation/C,C-coupling sequence is described. The reaction involved easily prepared 2-gem-dibromovinylanilines and boronic acids under carbon monoxide. Optimized reaction conditions allowed the construction of a wide variety of highly functionalized 2-aroyl-/heteroaroylindoles in satisfactory yields.

Hydrogen bonds can play a prominent role in organometallic catalysis, as shown for the title reaction, in which a counteranion directs the cyclization through the formation of hydrogen bonds that likely involve a proton of the π-allyl/palladium species itself. The reaction allows access to four out of the eight stereoisomers of 2,5-disubstitued 3-hydroxy-tetrahydrofurans and thus fragments of complex natural products.

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