posted on 2011-07-27, 00:00authored byKenichiro Nakai, Takuya Kurahashi, Seijiro Matsubara
An intermolecular cycloaddition reaction has been developed, where o-arylcarboxybenzonitriles react with alkynes to afford coumarins in the presence of Ni(0)/P(CH2Ph)3/MAD as a catalyst. The reaction process displays an unusual mechanistic featurethe cleavage of two independent C–CN and C–CO bonds.