Intramolecular trapping of spiro radicals to produce unusual cyclization products from usual migration substrates.

A conceptually new methodology to give unusual cyclization products from usual migration substrates was disclosed. The highly complex and structurally important and valuable spirocyclic compounds were produced through radical addition, intramolecular cyclization and ring opening instead of usual migration to the di-functionalization products of olefins. Furthermore, a plausible mechanism was proposed based on a series of mechanistic studies including radical trapping, radical clock, verification experiments of intermediates, isotope labeling and KIE experiments.