Synthetic Utility of Arylmethylsulfones: Annulative π-Extension of Aromatics and Hetero-aromatics Involving Pd(0)-Catalyzed Heck Coupling Reactions.

A straightforward and general method for the synthesis of annulated thiophene, dibenzothiophene, and carbazoles analogues has been achieved involving alkylation of 2-bromo-1-(phenylsulfonylmethyl)arene/heteroarene with arylmethyl bromides/heteroarylmethyl bromides using t-BuOK as a base in DMF, followed by Pd(0)-mediated intramolecular Heck coupling in the presence of K2CO3 in DMF at 80-140 °C. The attractive feature of this protocol is that a wide variety of π-conjugated heterocycles could be readily accessed by an appropriate choice of arylmethylsulfones and benzylic bromides.