Ir(III)-Catalyzed Carbocarbation of Alkynes through Undirected Double C-H Bond Activation of Anisoles.

A novel, electron-deficient cyclopentadienyl iridium(III) catalyst enables sequential cleavage of arene C(sp2)-H and methoxy C(sp3)-H bonds of anisoles, generating reactive metalacycles that insert difluoroalkynes to afford chromenes under mild reaction conditions. This transformation is an arylalkylation of an alkyne-a carbocarbation-via a nonchelate-assisted cleavage of two C-H bonds.