Photoinduced Synthesis of Dibenzofurans: Intramolecular and Intermolecular Comparative Methodologies

Abstract

The SRN1 reaction has been used as a powerful tool for the synthesis of heterocycles, and only a few studies about photoinduced intramolecular cyclization to generate a new C-O bond by a radical pathway have been reported. This work introduces two strategies for the synthesis of substituted dibenzofurans by electron transfer (eT) reactions. The first one is a three-step process that comprises bromination of o-arylphenols, Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling and photoinduced cyclization in order to obtain the above-mentioned products. The second one is a metal-free procedure and does not require any photocatalyst. Different solvents were tested, and the yields ranged from low to moderate. A comparison was established between both methodologies, showing that the second one is the most suitable for the synthesis of dibenzofurans.