Co(III)-Catalyzed Enaminone-Directed C-H Amidation for Quinolone Synthesis.

We report herein the development of a Co(III)-catalyzed enaminone-directed C-H amidation method for synthetic access to quinolones, an important heterocyclic scaffold for diverse pharmaceutically active structures. The C-H coupling with dioxazolones and subsequent deacylation of an installed amide group allow consecutive C-N coupling generation of quinolones with wide-ranging compatible substituent patterns.