Synthesis of substituted 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans through palladium catalyzed reactions

Abstract

In view of the extensive natural occurrence and biological importance of the benzofuran derivatives, it was planned to develop a general and facile method for the synthesis of dihydrobenzofurans through palladium catalyzed reactions. A convenient method for the synthesis of 2-alkyl-2, 3-dihydro benzofuran acetate was developed (13-20) from the reaction of substituted 2-iodophenol (4-9) with acrylic esters (10-12) by a (Ph3P)PdCl2, Et3N system as shown in scheme-1. ............................ All the synthesized 2-iodophenol, 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran compounds have been tested for antimicrobial activity against five gram-positive and eight gram-negative bacteria as well as three human fungal pathogens. All the synthesized compounds (5,8,9, 13-15 & 17-19) were found comparatively inhabitant activity against all of the tested organisms, at a dose of 200 mm/disk. But there were some synthesized compounds (4,15 & 18) showed mild activities against most of the tested compounds.