Access to Functionalized Indenes via Palladium‐Catalyzed Homolytic Cleavage of a Furan C−O Bond

Abstract

A photoinduced palladium‐catalyzed ring‐opening hydroarylation of furans to form functionalized indenes was achieved via an intramolecular reductive coupling of aryl bromide with furan using silane as the reductant. Deuterium tracking and DFT analysis revealed a reasonable reaction pathway involving: 1) the homolytic cleavage of the furan C−O bond induced by the α‐allyl radical; 2) a 1,6‐H atom transfer from carbon to oxygen.