Development of a flow photochemical process for a π-Lewis acidic metal-catalyzed cyclization/radical addition sequence: in situ-generated 2-benzopyrylium as photoredox catalyst and reactive intermediate

• Masahiro Terada,
• Zen Iwasaki,
• Ryohei Yazaki,
• Shigenobu Umemiya and
• Jun Kikuchi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1973–1980, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.173

• Abstract A flow photochemical reaction system for a π-Lewis acidic metal-catalyzed cyclization/radical addition sequence was developed, which utilizes in situ-generated 2-benzopyrylium intermediates as the photoredox catalyst and electrophilic substrates. The key 2-benzopyrylium intermediates were

• generated in the flow reaction system through the intramolecular cyclization of ortho-carbonyl alkynylbenzene derivatives by the π-Lewis acidic metal catalyst AgNTf2 and the subsequent proto-demetalation with trifluoroacetic acid. The 2-benzopyrylium intermediates underwent further photoreactions with

• benzyltrimethylsilane derivatives as the donor molecule in the flow photoreactor to provide 1H-isochromene derivatives in higher yields in most cases than the batch reaction system. Keywords: 2-benzopyrylium; flow chemistry; isocromene; photochemical reaction; π-Lewis acidic metal; Introduction Flow chemistry has