Ir(III)-Catalyzed Carbocarbation of Alkynes through Undirected Double C–H Bond Activation of Anisoles

A novel, electron-deficient cyclopentadienyl iridium­(III) catalyst enables sequential cleavage of arene C­(sp2)–H and methoxy C­(sp3)–H bonds of anisoles, generating reactive metalacycles that insert difluoroalkynes to afford chromenes under mild reaction conditions. This transformation is an arylalkylation of an alkyne–a carbocarbation–via a nonchelate-assisted cleavage of two C–H bonds.

一种新型缺电子环戊二烯基铱(III)催化剂（electron-deficient cyclopentadienyl iridium(III) catalyst），可实现苯甲醚（anisoles）的芳烃C(sp²)-H键与甲氧基C(sp³)-H键的顺序断裂，生成活性金属杂环中间体；该中间体可与二氟炔烃（difluoroalkynes）发生插入反应，在温和反应条件下得到色烯（chromenes）。该转化属于炔烃的芳基烷基化——即碳碳化（carbocarbation）——过程，经由无螯合辅助的双C-H键断裂完成。