Fused thiophenes have been recognized as very important scaffolds in the field of pharmaceutical and functional materials sciences. For this reason, the development of an efficient synthetic method for functionalized fused thiophenes is highly attractive and poses a significant challenge. However, because some of the previously reported synthetic methods demand a strong base, long reaction times, and vigorous reaction conditions, the development of efficient synthetic approaches to overcome these shortcomings has been continuously required. Herein, we developed a method for the synthesis of a wide range of fused thiophenes, including those fused with lactams, lactones, or cyclic ethers, from a rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular transannulation reaction of alkynyl thiadiazoles. This transannulation reaction provides an efficient platform for the construction of a variety of 5,n-fused thiophenes from readily available starting materials together with the release of molecular nitrogen.This work was supported by the Human Resource Training Program for Regional Innovation and Creativity through the Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2015H1C1A1035955) |