Palladium-Catalyzed Formylation of Aryl Iodides with HCOOH as CO Source.

A facile and practical method for the synthesis of aromatic aldehydes by palladium-catalyzed reductive carbonylation starting from aryl iodides and HCOOH is described. Compared to the known formylation procedure, HCOOH serves not only as the most convenient and environmental-friendly C1 source but also as the reviving agent in the reductive elimination process of a Pd-catalyst. Furthermore, this procedure is also applied successfully to the modification of natural products, such as vindoline, tabersonin, and vincamine, to obtain the corresponding products in good yields.