Synthesis of Elaborate Benzofuran-2-Carboxamide Derivatives Through a Combination of 8-Aminoquinoline Directed C–H Arylations and Transamidations

Benzofurans are everywhere in nature and they have been extensively studied by medicinal chemists over the years because of their chemotherapeutic and physiological properties. Herein, we describe a strategy that can be used to access elaborate benzo-2-carboxamide derivatives, which involves a synthetic sequence of 8-aminoquinoline directed C–H arylations followed by transamidations. For the directed C–H arylations, Pd catalysis was used to install a wide range of aryl and heteroaryl substituents at the C3 position of the benzofuran scaffold in high efficiency. Directing group cleavage and further diversification of the C3-arylated benzofuran products were then achieved in a single synthetic operation through the utilization of a two-step transamidation protocol. By bocylating the 8-aminoquinoline amide moiety of these products, it proved possible to activate them towards aminolysis with different amine nucleophiles. Interestingly, this aminolysis reaction was found to proceed efficiently without the need of any additional catalyst or additive. Given the high efficiency and modularity of this synthetic strategy, it constitute a very attractive approach for generating structurally-diverse collections of benzofuran derivatives for small molecule screening.