Using (vinyl tosyloxy)benziodolium salts, we divergently synthesized a series of conjugated diene derivatives with the Mizoroki-Heck reaction. Subsequent coupling reactions of these dienes provide access to polycyclic aromatic conjugated diene derivatives. Derivatization of ester-substituted conjugated dienes enabled the synthesis of ortho-iodoarylpyranones. Further oxidation of ortho-iodoarylpyranones furnishes cyclic arylidonium salts, which serve as versatile reagents for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Pan et al. (2026) studied this question.