4-Aryl and 4-vinyl quinolines were prepared via a sequential procedure involving regioselective Rh(acac)(C 2 H 2 )/dppfcatalyzed hydroarylation/hydrovinylation of b-(2-aminophenyl)-a,b-ynones with arylboronic acids or potassium aryl and vinyl trifluoroborates, followed by nucleophilic attack of the amino group onto the carbonyl.The quinoline scaffold is found in a variety of biologically active compounds, and quinoline-containing drugs are widely used in treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. 1 Pharmacological studies on new quinoline derivatives appears frequently in current literature dealing with HIV-1 replication inhibition, 2 antimicrobial activity, 3 antihelmintic properties, 4 antimalarial activity 5 and inhibition of VEGF receptors; 6 in particular, 4-arylquinolines have been evaluated for their activity against West Nile Virus, 7 and have found application as ligands of peripheral benzodiazepine receptor. 8 Moreover, conjugated polymers incorporating a 2,4-diarylquinoline subunit are useful chemosensors for fluoride ion, 9 and 1,8-di(4-quinolyl)naphtalene derivatives are selective fluorescent sensors for metal ions in aqueous solution. 10 Consequently, there is a great current synthetic interest in assembling quinoline ring system from acyclic precursors. 11As a part of our ongoing efforts 12 to discover new routes to heterocycles starting from functionalized alkynes bearing proximate nucleophilic centers, we focused on b-(2-aminophenyl)-a,b-ynones 1 as useful building blocks for the synthesis of quinolines through sequential processes involving conjugate-addition-type 13 or cycloaddition 14 reactions followed by cyclization through nucleophilic attack of the amino group onto the carbonyl (cycloamination). In this context, we showed that the reaction of 1 with NaI in acetic acid affords 4-iodoquinolines 3. The potential of 3 as precursors for increasing molecular complexity via palladium-catalyzed reactions has been considered; 13 therefore, the combined addition of NaI to 1/palladiumcatalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction 15 could represent a general entry into 4-aryl and 4-vinylquinolines. Indeed, the reaction of 1a with NaI in acetic acid gave the 4-iodoquinoline 3a (Scheme 1, a); subsequent cross-coupling with phenylboronic acid at room temperature 16 resulted in the formation of 4aa in good yield (Scheme 1, b).
Scheme 1Nevertheless, the one-pot synthesis of 4-aryl and 4-vinylquinolines 4 starting from 1 represents a more interesting challenge. 17 In order to achieve this goal , we investigated the development of a one-pot/two-step synthetic protocol. NaI (2 equiv) was added to 1a in ethanol at 80°C in the presence of 1 equivalent of TsOH; after the complete conversion of 1a to 3a (3 h), PhB(OH) 2 (1.3 equiv), K 3 PO 4 (3 equiv), Pd(OAc) 2 (0.03 equiv) and TBAB (0.08 equiv) were added to the reaction mixture allowing the formation of 4a in 47% overall yield after 6 hours at 80°C (Scheme 1, c). Probably there is room for optimization; however, the main drawback of this procedure is const...