Rhodium(III)-Catalyzed Oxidative Cyclization of Oxazolines with Cyclopropanols: Synthesis of Isoindolinones.

The synthesis of C3-substituted isoindolin-1-ones from oxazolines and cyclopropanols has been achieved with oxazoline as a bifunctional nucleophilic directing group. The reaction proceeds by the cleavage of three chemical bonds and allows the formation of three new chemical bonds, a C-N bond, a C-C bond, and a C-O bond, in a single step.